


Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop

by Ekhwanders



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Follows a scene of cannon then goes way off track, Prompt one for Wayhaught Week, Wayhaught Week 2016, sometime around 1x03 but Waverly is already single
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-08-11 22:27:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 51,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7909930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ekhwanders/pseuds/Ekhwanders
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nicole Haught has the perfect younger sister and can't help but try to impress her with a new perfect girlfriend. The only problem: she doesn't have a girlfriend. She asks her new, gorgeous, brilliant, and perfect friend, Waverly to play along. She just hopes her real feelings don't ruin things before her sister even gets there.</p><p>AKA the first prompt of Wayhaught week.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Technically, this is a day late, but I didn't know about the prompts until today and wanted to play along. :) 
> 
> Also, if you read Camp Holliday, expect a posting for that one soon. I'm hoping tomorrow. This one kind of took over today, sorry not really sorry. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy a cute little one shot. I've read several stories where Nicole's cat's name is Calamity Jane, and I think I read somewhere that Emily Andras herself has given that the green light, so I used that name here. Also, the title is the same as a Landon Pigg song as they go on a coffee date here. But I own none of that song, I just thought it was kind of fitting and the lyrics don't clash and I'm terrible at naming things. 
> 
> With that, I hope you enjoy. As always, comments and critiques are welcome and appreciated.

Nicole waited nervously outside of Black Badge Division’s offices waiting for Dolls. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew he would be the only person that could offer real advice. She knew that he knew of her feelings for Waverly Earp, but she really didn’t want Wynonna to hear what she was going to ask him about. She had knocked and was waiting rather impatiently for his response. 

“Enter.” She heard Dolls say, so she did. 

What she had not expected was Waverly to be sitting in the office, propped half way on the table in front of her, her green shirt shirt bringing the green out in her eyes beautifully. Nicole tried to recover, completely off guard. “Hey, you asked to be alerted whenever things come over the wire that seem… unusual?” 

“Yeah, we’re coming. Thanks.” He turned his attention to the smaller Earp, “Waverly, you’re dismissed.” 

Nicole smiled at Waverly, and was greeted back with a warm smile. Dolls noticed, and Nicole knew he did. She wondered if he’d threaten her with treason after she told him the real reason she went in there was to ask if he thought Waverly would agree to a date of sorts even though she had a boyfriend. 

Dolls lead Nicole out of the room. As soon as they were a few steps down the hall, Nicole stopped him, “please don’t kill me, but I need your advice.” 

Dolls spun on his heels and looked into Nicole’s eyes. He would have been mad, but he could tell she actually need help. “What’s up, Haught?” 

“I know you know. About…. Me. Liking Waverly.” She whispered the last part. 

Dolls just nodded. 

“Okay, so here’s the deal, my younger sister and her perfect husband are coming into to town in a week and I may or may not have said that I have a girlfriend. Do you think I could talk her into playing the part? Or is that just a terrible idea?” 

Dolls laughed, legitimately laughed. It was startling, and Nicole knew it meant her plan was terrible. 

“Shit. I knew it was dumb. Would Wynonna?” 

“Oh my god, you don’t want that, Haught. You’d be better off just admitting you’re single.” He paused, watching Nicole’s face sink. He sighed, he was terrible at stuff like this, feelings, relationships, he just always kept his mouth shut. “If you’re desperate enough to consider asking Wynonna, I think you should just ask the Earp you actually want.” Dolls offered a friendly smile, “plus, not that it’s any of my business, but I think she likes you back.” He winked. 

Just then Nedley rounded the corner, “Oh good, just the man I was looking for. We just had the strangest call come over the wire.” 

“Now’s your chance Haught.” Dolls said following Nedley off down the hall. 

Nicole waited nervously in the break room for Waverly to emerge. Wynonna was first, hustling after Dolls, then Waverly appeared an oversized purse slung over her shoulder and an overflowing file box in her hands. 

“Hey, can I help you with that?” 

Waverly looked down nervously, aware that all of her research was now considered ‘classified,’ but also very aware that it was threatening to pull her down. “Ummm… yes. That would be nice.” She decided Nicole could help carry the stuff to her jeep, that couldn’t be breaking any rules. Plus, she really wanted an excuse to talk to the officer again. She hadn’t really gotten a chance to after the day in the bar where she had unintentionally gotten stuck in her shirt and had to be helped out of it. Sure she had seen her several times since then, but she hadn’t gotten to really talk to her. For some reason, Waverly really wanted the opportunity. 

“Are you parked out front?” Nicole smiled. 

Waverly’s heart beat faster. She could feel her words escaping her. What was that? Normally she was great with words, but around Nicole she either couldn’t find them, or spit them all out at once. “Yep.” Waverly smiled, she could tell she was blushing, but she didn’t know why. 

Nicole pushed through the front door, using her body to keep it open for Waverly. Once they were outside and alone, Nicole just went for it. There were only two possible outcomes she reminded herself, yes or no. She could handle either. “Hey, I have a really awkward… ummm… thing… to ask of you.” 

Waverly opened the back door of her Jeep and pointed where Nicole should set the box down. She threw her oversized purse in next to it and shut the door, wanting to give Nicole her full attention. “Okay, what?” She smiled, hoping this meant that they were officially friends. 

“Well, as you know, I’m new to town.” Nicole started, “and I don’t know very many people.” Waverly nodded. Nicole sighed, “Alright, here’s the deal. My sister and her husband are coming into to town in a week and she’s my younger sister and she’s perfect and she married the perfect guy and for some reason, when she was asking about me and my life, I got tired of saying ‘no, I’m single. Why? Oh, I just haven’t met the right person yet. Work? It’s fine, I give most of the interesting cases away.’ And I just… well, I guess you could say that I lied. I told her that I had a girlfriend who was gorgeous and way out of my league, and that work was going great and that my life is basically perfect.” Nicole looked down, realizing now how embarrassing this situation really was. 

Waverly smiled kindly, “okay, and where do I come in?” 

Nicole winced, “well, would you maybe pretend to be my girlfriend for an evening? You can totally say no, I don’t want your… boy-man to get upset with you. I just, you were the first person that came to mind. I could ask Wynonna, if you don’t want to. Shit. I’m sorry, this was a terrible idea.” 

“Nicole.” Nicole looked up. Waverly was smiling, “First, I don’t have a boy-man anymore. Second, yes. I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend. You just have to let me know what days you need me so I can ask Gus for those nights off. Also, we should probably get together at least once before to learn a little more about each other in case your sister starts asking questions.” 

Nicole’s eyes lit up, “Oh my god.” She wrapped Waverly in a hug before she could stop herself, “I owe you big time for this!” 

Waverly laughed, returning the hug. Without letting go Waverly whispered, “well, how about I get you that coffee I owe you and then you can get me dinner for this? Then we’ll probably be set?” 

Nicole let go of Waverly and backed up a step. She somehow just turned a night of a white lie with Waverly, into three kind-of-fake dates. She smiled, full dimples and full charm, “I think that sounds perfect. My sister and her husband come into town next Thursday and they leave Sunday morning, but I really think I just need you for a dinner at some point during that. As far as coffee and dinner, I work tomorrow and the next day, but I’m off the three days after that.” 

Waverly could feel herself blushing, she had no idea why she was this excited about pretending to be Nicole’s girlfriend, but something inside her told her not to fight it. “ Okay, Well I am also off this Wednesday and Thursday so that works out. Those are my usual days off. As for next week, I’ll see if I can’t just switch shifts to mornings so I can be free for anything your sister might want to do. 

***

Waverly was running around her room flinging clothes everywhere. It wasn’t like her to be so nervous, but Nicole would be here in thirty minutes and she still hadn’t settled on a top. Wynonna could hear the growling and pacing above her. Curious, she wandered up the stairs to Waverly’s room. “What’s going on in here, baby girl?” She asked watching from the door frame. 

“I can’t decide on a shirt.” Waverly said flatly as she dug through the pile again. 

“What effect is the shirt supposed to have?” Wynonna asked, stepping into the messiest version of Waverly’s room she had ever seen. 

Waverly blushed, very aware that Nicole would be the one picking her up. “Ummmm… I don’t know. I think that’s why I’m freaking out.” She said honestly. 

Wynonna looked Waverly over, saw the panic, and decided to just help and not press it. She had been gone for too long to not try to help every time she could. “As long as it’s not for Champ?” 

Waverly sighed, “It’s definitely not for Champ.” 

“Okay, then I’ll help.” Wynonna sat down on the bed looking over some of the piles on the floor. She took in the skin tight jeans that Waverly had on and smiled, “is this someone you’re interested in?” She pried, staying away from asking who it might be. 

“I don’t know.” Waverly looked up and bit her lip. “Maybe. But it’s… very different.” She furrowed her brow wondering if she should just come out with it. She decided against it for now, at least not until she was more comfortable admitting it to herself. “I’ve been with Champ for so long, as much as you might disapprove. So, I don’t know what this is, but it’s not him, and I’m nervous and want to look good, whether or not it goes anywhere or leads to anything.” 

That was enough for Wynonna. She smiled and left the room. She came back with a black top that made Waverly’s mouth fall open. It was not her style, but it was definitely hot. It was kind of a halter top, but much classier. In the front it looked like a sleeveless button up, but there was no back until the fabric formed a low v, no more than five inches from the top of her butt. 

Waverly knew it would look good on her. She smiled at Wynonna, “can I try it on?” 

“Waverly Earp, I do believe you’ve gone to the dark side if you start wearing my clothes.” Wynonna laughed as Waverly pulled off her shirt. 

“Wait, do I go without a bra in this?” Her eyes were wide with panic. 

Wynonna laughed, “I have a backless bra you can borrow.” She disappeared again. 

While she was gone, Waverly braided her hair into a tight fishtail braid that would fall neatly over her shoulder, ensuring that her back would be completely exposed. Waverly did a lot of yoga to keep her body in this shape, she kind of like the idea of showing it off to Nicole. 

Wynonna returned with a crazy contraption, Waverly had never seen before. 

They got Waverly into the bra and the top with ten minutes to spare when they heard a knock at the front door. Wynonna’s eyes bugged out of her head. She was clearly trying to decide if she should run to open the door before Waverly could stop her, but she had also really enjoyed helping her little sister over the past twenty minutes and didn’t want to ruin the trust she could feel building. If Waverly wanted to have a secret boyfriend, so be it, she knew she’d tell her eventually. 

Wynonna also knew it was her fault Waverly didn’t want to tell her everything immediately and she was determined to reverse that. Hopefully, reverse all the wrong she had ever done to Waverly slowly but surely. “I’ll wait here.” Wynonna smiled. “Seriously, it’s fine. I’ll wait until I hear the door shut again. You can have your mystery date tonight, I’m just glad you let me help with this.” 

Waverly smiled and kissed Wynonna on the cheek, “thank you. Seriously.” Waverly blushed and left her room, shutting the door behind her. Wynonna sat on Waverly’s bed and absentminded twirled Peacemaker around her pointer finger. She heard the door open and someone enter, but she couldn’t hear the person’s voice through the door. She sighed, guessing she would have to wait until Waverly just came out and told her. 

When Waverly opened the front door, she was greeted with a warm, dimpled smile. Nicole’s hair was down, her makeup was done, and her outfit was nothing at all like the uniform she wore to work. Waverly couldn’t help but devouring the sight of her. She was wearing dark blue jeans that might have been even tighter than Waverly’s. Her top was a solid forest green deep cut v-neck that contrasted with and showed off her porcelain skin beautifully. 

“Hey,” Waverly managed. 

Nicole blushed, Waverly had just very obviously checked her out. “Hey, you look,” Nicole laughed, “you look beautiful. These are for you.” She held out flowers that Waverly hadn’t even noticed she was holding. “I know we’re just prepping for my sister, but I figured if I treated it like a first date, we could just answer any questions she might ask us like we’ve actually been on one.” 

Waverly blushed, “I was kind of thinking the same thing. Here, let me get these into water before we go. Come on in.” She backed up ushering Nicole into the living room. She lead the way to the kitchen, very aware of her outfit. She smiled at the flowers. “I’ve never gotten flowers before, so this is already my best first date.” She said over her shoulder. 

Nicole blushed, doing her best to remind herself that this was a fake date, but also being very aware of the outfit Waverly had picked to just go get coffee. She swallowed nervously, when Waverly spun around catching her eyes locked on her ass. 

Waverly blushed, but smirked. She quickly cut the stems at an angle and put them in a mason jar she had converted into a vase. “Ready?” Waverly asked while slipping into a pair of knee high leather boots. Technically, they belonged to Wynonna, but she knew Wynonna wouldn’t mind, and she knew they would complete her outfit perfectly. 

“Ready.” Nicole smiled. She opened the door for Waverly and shut it behind them, waiting on the porch for Waverly to lock the door behind them. Nicole drove a black Ford Ranger that looked brand new. 

“I like your truck,” Waverly said, “I guess I thought you’d pick me up in the cruiser.” 

Nicole laughed, “I don’t like to drive that thing when I’m not on duty. This is Harrison, like Ford, get it?” 

Waverly laughed as Nicole opened the passenger side door for her. Nicole shut the door gently after she knew Waverly was all the way in. Nicole walked around the front of the truck and Waverly watched her walk. She had never had someone open a car door for her either, she thought. It’s a fake date, she reminded herself, but she couldn’t help the smile that took over her face when Nicole climbed in next to her. 

Wynonna peaked out a window on the second floor of the homestead. Not wanting Waverly to see her she barely moved the blinds, she couldn’t see Waverly anymore, but she did see Officer Haught step into the driver’s seat of a small pickup truck. “Well I’ll be Haughtdamn,” Wynonna whispered. She bounced happily, “yesssssss. Good job, Waves.” She smiled, happy that her sister was finally dating a smart one. 

***

They pulled into the coffee shop parking lot after having talked the entire way there. Nicole had asked Waverly about what she had studied in school and Waverly had spent the next twenty minutes gushing about local history and dead languages. 

Waverly would have been embarrassed, but Nicole was so genuinely interested that it was hard to not just keep talking. “Sorry, if I’m boring you.” Waverly said as Nicole shut off the engine. 

“Why on Earth would you think you’re boring me? This is fascinating. And it’s even cooler because it’s your relative. I don’t think anyone in my family ever did anything half as exciting.” Nicole nervously grabbed Waverly’s hand and squeezed reassuringly, “Waves, I honestly want to know you. Not just to convince my sister, but like…” she stopped herself from saying too much, “as a friend. So, you’re not going to bore me. Anything I get to know about you, I’ll accept happily, okay?” 

Waverly squeezed her hand back, parting her fingers a little for Nicole’s. “Okay.” She said blushing, her eyes still on their hands on the seat in between them. “We should probably practice this a bit, too.” She smiled, hoping she wasn’t being too obvious. 

Nicole’s eyes widened and she was thankful Waverly was still looking down. “Yes, we probably should. But first, coffee?” 

They got out of the truck and into the tiny coffee shop, Nicole holding the door for Waverly again. Waverly blushed, she wasn’t used to being treated right. She was having a hard time remembering this date wasn’t real and they hadn’t even sat down yet. They stood patiently in line, but the place was pretty packed. When Waverly saw her favorite seat vacate, she nodded towards it, “you want to go snag that table?” She asked. “I’ll get the drinks, what do you want?” She smiled at Nicole. 

“Just a regular cappuccino.” Nicole touched Waverly’s bare back as she moved passed her, ghosting her fingertips across her skin. 

Waverly felt heat spread from the spot all the way through her face, a smile spreading with it. She bit her lip and looked at Nicole, but Nicole was already almost to the empty table. Damn she was smooth, Waverly thought. 

“Hey, Waves.” Chrissy Nedley said from behind the counter, “You look hot, who are you here with?” She raised an eyebrow. Chrissy knew that Waverly had broken up with Champ, for real this time, and was clearly trying to show interest in Waverly’s life. 

Not wanting to push her any farther away, Waverly said, “Nicole, you probably know her. She’s a new officer in town.” She turned and waved to Nicole, who awkwardly waved back, clearly confused. 

Chrissy took in Waverly’s outfit and Nicole’s and the fact that Waverly was buying their drinks. Realization slowly hit her, “Oh.” She said, a small smile crept across her face, “well good for you, Waves. An improvement, I’d say.” She winked as she slid Waverly’s two drinks across the counter. 

Waverly blushed again, and crossed the small shop to sit across from Nicole. She set Nicole’s drink down in front of her and took a small sip of her own. “What was that?” She asked Waverly, nervous at the look on her face. 

“That was me telling Chrissy Nedley that I’m here with you.” Waverly smiled nervously, “She assumed that I was actually here with you, like with you, so I think this is going to work.” Waverly giggled. 

“Do you want me to go correct her?” Nicole asked, not wanting to scare Waverly away. 

“No, it’s fine. She was happy for me. And honestly, it’s the first time anyone has been happy for me in a long time. I’d kind of like to keep it that way, if that’s okay with you.” Waverly bit her lip. 

Nicole’s expression melted into a dimpled smile. “That is fine with me. So, tell me more about your studies, you were telling me about Wyatt’s first appearance in town.” 

Waverly shook her head no, “It’s your turn, Haughtstuff. What brought you to town?” She raised an eyebrow as Nicole blushed and started into what was sure to be an entertaining story. 

***

The girls were still talking at a hundred miles an hour when the bar closed for the evening. Nicole opened the door for Waverly again. “Goodnight, y’all.” Chrissy called from the front door she was locking behind them. She was smiling at the sight of Nicole holding the door open. 

“Goodnight.” They both called back. Nicole was beaming as she walked around the front of her truck. Waverly hadn’t corrected her friend. Could it be possible she wanted this too? Nicole hopped in, blushing. 

“I’m having a great time.” Waverly said as Nicole climbed into the truck. “Like the most fun I’ve ever had.” She swallowed nervously, “Ummm… I’d invite you over, but Wynonna is probably there, and Chrissy is one thing, but I don’t know that I want Wynonna to know.” 

Nicole stopped breathing, had this turned into a real date? She didn’t want to press her luck by asking, so instead she just said, “Well, you could come over to my place. I could make us some dinner and we could watch a movie.” 

Waverly grinned a special smile she seemed to have reserved for Nicole. “If i’m not intruding, that sounds lovely.” 

“Are you allergic to cats?” Nicole asked. 

“No, do you have a cat?” Waverly asked excitedly. 

“Calamity Jane.” Nicole blushed. 

“Well I think it’s imperative, I meet your cat before your sister gets here. How else is she going to believe I’ve stayed the night?” 

Nicole was at a loss for words, she hadn’t even thought about that. “I think you should know, my sister has never met any of my former girlfriends. So if you’re worried about having to outshine someone, there’s nothing to worry about.” 

Waverly raised an eyebrow, this was a huge deal for Nicole. She hadn’t expected that. She didn’t want to stress Nicole out by pointing that out, so instead she followed a different path, “and how many ex-girlfriends do you have?” It came out a little sharper than intended. 

Nicole laughed at the question, “three, but one wasn’t my girlfriend technically, she was more of a…” 

“Okay, I get it.” Waverly felt a pang of jealously she hadn’t expected to feel. 

Nicole laughed, “I promise, Waves. They were all before I met you.” Nicole couldn’t help but smile at the way Waverly relaxed ever so slightly at that. “Any exes I should know about, besides Champ?” 

“No, just him. I was with him for five years. Chrissy’s right, even if you’re just using me, you’re a vast improvement.” Waverly teased, but she squeezed Nicole’s leg with the compliment. 

Nicole caught Waverly’s hand before she could pull it away, holding it to her thigh. Waverly didn’t seem to mind, she did look from their hands to nervously out the window, Nicole noticed, but she made no movement to pull her hand away. In fact after just a minute, Waverly had flipped her hand over, interlocking her fingers with Nicole’s. 

They pulled up to Nicole’s apartment in no time. Waverly let go of Nicole’s hand for her to put the truck into park and turn it off. They had parked next to Nicole’s cruiser. Waverly was nervous to be here. Not in a bad way, but in an excited way. They had been silent for most of the way from the coffee shop to Nicole’s apartment, and Waverly had crammed a lot of thinking into that short amount of time. Things she had established: she had feelings for Nicole, real romantic feelings. If Nicole’s thumb nervously tracing lines across the back of her hand was any indication, Nicole had feelings for her, too. She had also decided that she wanted to confront those feelings and stop hiding from them. She had been attracted to Nicole from the second she had walked into Shorty’s a few weeks ago, and now Waverly was single. And Chrissy was right, Nicole was a vast improvement. But more importantly, Waverly just honestly wanted her, and hadn’t wanted something or someone like this in… possibly ever. Now, she just had to figure out how to tell her. 

She followed Nicole up the stairs and up to a door. Waverly had been to these apartments before, she had looked into them before moving into the studio above the bar, but at the time, she never would have been able to afford them. 

Nicole nervously opened the front door, she had honestly never in a million years imagined that Waverly would be here tonight. She was trying to remember what state she had left it in. 

The door opened to a small hallway, and just to the left was the kitchen. “Welcome,” Nicole said smiling. “This is the kitchen and dining room,” she kept walking them into the apartment, “this is the living room. The bathroom is that door right there to the right, and this is Calamity Jane.” She said picking up a beautiful Siamese cat from a cozy looking recliner in front of her. 

Waverly held her hand up in front of the cat’s face for a second before scratching the cat behind the ears. The cat immediately began purring in Nicole’s arms. Nicole smiled at the cat’s response. “Can I hold her?” Waverly asked, grinning. 

Nicole passed the cat over. “What would you like for dinner? I have the stuff for ravioli, tacos, steak and potatoes, or grilled chicken and asparagus.” 

Waverly’s eyes widened, impressed. “Wow, and you can cook…” Waverly stopped herself, but she blushed. Calamity Jane was rumbling like an engine in her arms. “Whatever you had planned to make tonight, I like everything you just listed.” 

“Ravioli was the plan for tonight.” Nicole smiled. 

Waverly followed her into the kitchen, still carrying the cat. Nicole refilled the cat’s food bowl and put a few ice cubes in a glass that was on the floor next to it. Waverly giggled, “do you give your cat ice water?” 

Nicole blushed and laughed, “yeah, it keeps her from trying to steal mine. Speaking of, can I get you something to drink. I have beer, wine, something stronger, water, milk, orange juice, I can make tea…” She opened her refrigerator to see if she was missing anything. 

“That’s mighty brave of you to offer an Earp a drink.” Waverly grinned, “I hear it makes us a little unpredictable.” 

Nicole swallowed nervously, “I had noticed that about your sister, but didn’t know the same could be said for you.’ 

“Want to find out?” 

Nicole grinned, it was already dangerous. She bit her bottom lip and nodded. 

“Then I’ll take a beer.” 

“Tommy Knocker’s Imperial Nut Brown okay?” 

“That’s like 8%?!” Waverly laughed, “Hell yeah, Haughtstuff. You’re my kind of lady.” She blushed but reached for the beer. She less than subtly brushed her fingers across Nicole’s when she accepted it from her. 

Their moment was interrupted by Nicole’s phone ringing. Nicole looked at the screen her eyes widened, “it’s my sister!” 

“Get it! Tell her I’m here.” Waverly bounced, while twisting off the cap of the beer with ease. She took a big gulp, trying to calm her nerves. 

“Hey, Hailey. What’s up?” Nicole leaned back against the counter. 

“Nothing much,” Waverly could hear a voice that sounded similar to Nicole’s from over the phone, “How’s your uhhh… girlfriend?” She heard Hailey ask. 

“Funny you should ask, she’s here. We’re about to make dinner.” 

“What?! Put her on the phone!” 

Waverly laughed and reached out her hand. Nicole nervously handed her the phone. 

“Hi, this is Waverly.” 

“Hi, I can’t wait to meet you next week. Nicole has been so reluctant to give up any information about you other than to say about thirty times that your gorgeous and brilliant and way out of her league.” 

Nicole’s mouth fell open, her face getting redder than her hair. She looked down at the floor, clearly embarrassed. 

Waverly on the other hand laughed and stepped into the edges of Nicole’s bubble, setting her beer down on the counter behind Nicole, “Oh did she now?” 

“Yeah, something about abs and smelling like honey. You know, she’s never talked to me about anyone before so you must be special.” Hailey was laughing through the phone. 

Nicole felt like she was going to throw up. She tried to step away from Waverly, but Waverly put her hand on the counter on the other side of Nicole, effectively pinning her in place. “Well, I think she’s pretty amazing herself. And I know we haven’t been together for that long, but I’m honestly crazy about her.” Nicole’s eyes flicked to Waverly’s for a second finding an expression that was somewhere between lust and amusement. 

“Well, I can’t wait to meet you next week. I’ll let y’all get back to dinner.” 

“Bye, Hailey.” Waverly chimed before hanging up the phone. 

She sat the phone down on the counter next to her beer. The silence and weight of the air in between them was heavy. Nicole started to fidget, but Waverly put her hand on her hip causing her to freeze. “Did you mean it?” Waverly whispered. 

Nicole swallowed nervously, “mean what?” 

“What you told your sister?” 

Nicole bit her lip and nodded awkwardly. “You can back out if you want. I should have told you I actually have feelings for you. I’m so sorry, Waves.” 

Waverly smiled and lifted Nicole’s chin causing her to look into her eyes, “or you could have just asked me on a real date.” 

Nicole tilted her head to the side a smile slowly replacing the frown. “What?” 

“I ummm… like you for real.” Waverly was nervous all of the sudden, she just made it very real. 

“Okay, would you like to go on a real date with me and then meet my sister and her husband?” Nicole smiled. 

“Yes. This can count as our first date though, if you’d like. Fake or not, it was the best evening I’ve ever had.” Waverly tipped up onto her toes and kissed Nicole on her cheek.


	2. Chapter 1.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the now official first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started working on their second date. Then, I realized I would be leaving them with Waverly kissing Nicole on the cheek, and that just felt incomplete if this story is to continue. So, here is Chapter 1.5, the rest of the date. It's short, but my goal is to have their second date up by the end of tonight :) 
> 
> The comments and kudos are blowing me away! So, thank you. I hope you enjoy this little snippet just as much, let me know!

Waverly’s stomach did about a hundred flip-flops. She giggled to release some of the nervous tension between the two of them. She had done it, she had admitted her feelings, they had determined this was a real date, and she had mustered up the courage to kiss Nicole Haught on the cheek. She had immediately backed off, nerves and reality settling in around her. 

“Ummm… do you… do you need help making the ravioli?” She asked, not knowing where to go after kissing her on the cheek. She wasn’t ready to do more. Despite having been pining over this woman for the past few weeks, ever since she strutted into Shorty’s and introduced herself, she had never actually imagined what would happen if… well, if something happened. 

The look on Nicole’s face told her that she was having the same trouble. If truth be told, Nicole was just trying to stay standing. Waverly Earp, the Waverly Earp, had just kissed her on the cheek. ‘Play it cool, Nicole, play it cool. Be smooth, like that day at Shorty’s, you were smooth that day, find that. Oh shit, just say something. She asked you a damn question.’ Nicole’s thoughts were practically yelling at her, “Yes. Help would be divine.” She frowned, divine? ‘What the hell, Nicole?’ Fortunately, Waverly was smiling at her, nervous, but smiling. “Sorry, ummm… I’ll make the sauce, if you want to be in charge of the ravioli.” 

Waverly’s smile became genuine, “that sounds good. Pot?” 

“What? Waverly, I’m a cop.” 

“What?” Waverly was confused, but then started to laugh, “No, I meant like, a pot to boil water in.” 

Nicole laughed, the laughter calming her nerves, she just needed to relax. It was going to be okay, Waverly liked her already, she could just go back to being herself. “Okay, my bad. I think my brain has stopped functioning properly.” She reached into a cabinet to the left of the stove and pulled out a pot and handed it to Waverly. 

Waverly gave her a nervous smile, taking the pot from her, their hands intentionally brushing again, but neither pulling away. When the moment had passed, Waverly filled the pot up about three-quarters of the way and set it on high on the stove to bring it to a boil. She leaned back on the counter watching Nicole make homemade pasta sauce. “So… abs and honey?” Waverly giggled. Now was the moment for her to remain brazen, not to hide. So far, the truth had gone well, she wasn’t going to let herself stop now. 

Nicole blushed, “there was other stuff too, you know the part about you being gorgeous and brilliant and out of my league.” She pulled a sauce pan out of the same cabinet and poured her mixture into. Setting it on the stove on low, covering it with a lid. 

Waverly had never had someone cook anything for her before. If she had thought Haught was hot before, she was practically fire now. Waverly took another big gulp of her beer while Nicole pulled cheese ravioli noodles out of the refrigerator. 

When Nicole set the noodles down on the counter she couldn’t help but smile, Waverly was looking at her like the heart eyes emoji. She realized that she hadn’t gotten herself a beer yet, and if she was ever going to relax she was going to need at least one. 

Waverly poured the noodles into the now boiling water. Shyly she said, “you know I don’t think that, right?” 

Nicole swallowed the oversized sip she had just taken. “Think what?” 

“That I’m out of your league. I think that you’re…” Waverly took a deep breath, “I think that you’re incredibly funny and much much smarter than you give yourself credit for and so charming it’s dangerous and I think that you’re…” Waverly froze, she had never in her life told another woman that she found them physically attractive, and now she wished she had more adequate words than pretty or beautiful. She racked her mind, running through every language she knew, her hand nervously gesturing up and down Nicole’s long frame attempting to convey the words she couldn’t find. 

Nicole smiled the biggest smile she ever had in her life, her dimples distracting Waverly even farther. Waverly couldn’t help but smile, “that’s not fair.” She took another drink of her beer. 

Nicole looked confused, “what? I didn’t do anything.” 

“You smiled.” 

Nicole tried her best to frown, but she failed miserably. Waverly laughed at her attempt. Nicole’s heart skipped a beat. “I can’t not smile. Why is that not fair?” 

“You’re even more attractive when you smile, and I’m already trying to find the right word to use, and you’re making it impossible. I don’t know a single word in any of the languages I know that describes how attractive I find you and then you went and smiled.” Waverly blushed and looked away nervously, her hands fidgeting with the beer bottle in her hands. 

Nicole’s mouth fell open for a second. She couldn’t believe Waverly had just said that, “and you said I was charming.” 

***

Nicole’s heart was pounding as she drove down the dirt road that lead to the Earp homestead. The rest of the evening had gone even better than she could have imagined. They had watched The Princess Bride, Waverly’s favorite movie. Waverly had slowly scooted closer on the couch until they were close enough to hold hands. Nicole had nervously gone for it with about ten minutes to spare in the movie. Thankfully, Waverly had smiled at her and linked their fingers again. After the movie had ended they had switched to a tv show on Netflix that they could talk through, holding hands the entire time. 

They were deep into swapping likes and dislikes and childhood stories when Waverly’s phone chimed. “WAVERLY EARP, DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS??” Read a text message from Wynonna. 

Waverly actually hadn’t realized that it was almost two o’clock in the morning. “Oh my goodness,” Nicole said glancing at her watch. “I should get you home.” 

“Are we still on dinner for tomorrow night?” Waverly asked without moving from her spot on Nicole’s couch. 

A smile crept across Nicole’s face. They had planned to get coffee today, dinner tomorrow night, and then her sister was going to be there just a few days after that. “Yes?” 

Waverly beamed, “good, then it’s a date.” 

Nicole bit her bottom lip and blushed. She was already in way too deep. “Cool.” 

Waverly’s phone chimed again with another text from Wynonna, “Are you staying the night with your mystery date????” 

Waverly laughed, nervously. The thought had crossed her mind more than a few times this evening. She typed back, “No, we just lost track of time. I’ll be home soon.” 

Now, as Nicole pulled to a stop in front of Waverly’s house, her mind was racing. Should she kiss her? She didn’t want to push Waverly. She had gotten to admit her feelings, hold her hand, and get a kiss on the cheek all in one day. But they had stopped and Waverly hadn’t let go of Nicole’s hand yet, and Waverly was the one who had officially made it a date. Nicole licked her lips nervously. 

“Today was perfect.” Waverly said, barely louder than a whisper. 

Nicole turned to face her as much as she could without unbuckling her seat belt. “It really was. You’re something else, Waverly Earp.” 

Waverly smiled, looking into Nicole’s eyes wondering how to get Nicole to kiss her goodnight. She unbuckled her seat belt, and moved closer to Nicole. The tension in the cab was palpable. 

Nicole swallowed nervously, Waverly had just made it clear that she was supposed to go for it, right? Who unbuckles their seatbelt and moves into the middle seat if they don’t want to be kissed? Nicole tucked a strand of Waverly’s hair behind her ear to gauge her reaction. Waverly had stopped breathing. Nicole smiled, her nervousness fading, making room for confidence. “Can I kiss you goodnight?” She asked, her hand hadn’t left Waverly’s face. 

Waverly was worried that her heart beat was audible. She nodded nervously, "yes," she whispered. 

Nicole closed the gap. Her lips met Waverly’s gently, but Waverly’s hands snaked up into her hair pulling her deeper, their kiss heating up exponentially. Nicole’s tongue slid into Waverly’s mouth expertly, causing Waverly to moan softly. Waverly hit Nicole’s seat belt latch, effectively freeing her, the smaller woman moving closer still. 

Nicole couldn’t believe what was happening, her hands moved to wrap around Waverly’s waist meeting her exposed back, pulling her tighter to her. Waverly bit Nicole’s bottom lip, eliciting a moan from the taller woman. Nicole slid her right hand up Waverly’s back, cradling the back of her head, her left hand holding Waverly tight to her. 

Waverly’s phone chimed again causing Waverly to literally growl as she pulled away. Nicole chuckled, still shocked with disbelief. “Wynonna’s threatening to come outside and say hello.” Waverly said, still out of breath. 

Nicole bit her lip, her breathing erratic, “sounds like it’s goodnight, then.” 

Waverly looked legitimately annoyed, “I’m going to kick her ass.” 

Nicole laughed, “As an officer of the law, I’m going to have to pretend I didn’t hear that.” 

Waverly grinned, “I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

“Oh, absolutely. Have sweet dreams, Waverly.” 

Waverly leaned in for a quick, but passionate kiss before hopping out of the truck and up the few steps of the porch. She gave one last smile and wave before sliding in the front door. Wynonna was waiting on the couch, whiskey bottle in hand, smirk on her face. “Sooooo, how was your ‘kind of’ date?” 

Waverly was annoyed Wynonna had caused it to end, but she also really wanted to talk about how happy she was, “oh my god, Wyn. It was,” Waverly exhaled shakily trying to expel some of the energy that was coursing through her body, “it was truly magical.” 

“Oh? What all did y’all do?” Wynonna had told herself the second she saw that it was Officer Haught who picked Waverly up, to avoid gender specific pronouns. This was Waverly, if she started dropping ‘he’s’ Waverly would tense up not wanting to lie, and if she said ‘she’ the whole thing would be over and Waverly might not trust her again. 

“We went and got coffee and then went back to their place for dinner and to watch a movie.” Waverly said, her smile was practically etched on to her face. Wynonna noticed Waverly’s use of the word ‘their,’ and smiled at herself for finally doing something correctly. 

“Did y’all cook dinner or, like order pizza? Details, baby girl!” 

Waverly laughed, “yeah, we made ravioli and then watched the Princess Bride. I also got to make friends with Calamity Jane, the cat.” 

“Did you, you know? Do it?” 

Waverly laughed and blushed again, “No, it wasn’t even officially a date until we were making ravioli.” 

“What?” Wynonna was officially confused, “but there are flowers here, how was it not a date if there were flowers?” 

“That’s kind of a long story. Maybe one for another night?” 

“Tomorrow night?” Wynonna smiled and raised a mischievous eyebrow. 

Waverly blushed, “actually, we’re going on date number two.” 

Wynonna had never seen Waverly so happy. Granted she had missed the past three years, Waverly had never shared this much or smiled this wide. “I’m glad you’re happy, Waves.” Wynonna kissed her younger sister on the top of her head. “Do I at least get to meet this mystery charmer soon?” 

“Yeah, I actually think I would like that. Can I get us a little more established though? There’s no point in introducing you if it’s not going to work.” 

“Whatever you need, baby girl.” Wynonna smiled at their exchange, she knew that she had messed up a lot over the past three years, but it meant the world to her that Waverly was letting her reverse it.


	3. Second Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole takes Waverly out for their second official date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me longer to get this uploaded than planned! I hope it was worth the wait!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and commenting and all the kudos, it's blowing my mind! This little fic has one mayyyyyybe two more chapters, then I'm back on Camp Holliday, promise!

Nicole <3: So about tonight, I’d kind of like to take you somewhere nice. I’ve heard of a place in the city. What do you think? :) 

By ‘heard of a place in the city,’ she really meant that she had just spent the last hour trying to find the perfect place to take Waverly for their second date. 

Waves :): Sure! That actually sounds amazing. I’ve only ever been to the library there, haha. What should I wear? Wynonna is about to leave for the day, so I can be ready to go whenever or you can just come by whenever you’re ready… Up to you, I’m game for anything :) 

Waverly stared at her phone, nervously tapping her fingers on her desk. Was she being too forward? ‘Game for anything,’ after saying you’re going to be home alone might imply something more, but when Waverly thought back to just the night before and their kisses in Nicole’s truck, the thought of more didn’t scare her like she thought it would. It honestly excited her. 

Nicole’s mouth went dry when she read the message from Waverly. They had been texting from the moment they parted ways last night, or early this morning, some of it had been flirty, some of it had been serious, but mostly it had just made Nicole all the more crazy about Waverly Earp. Nicole thought about her response. Theoretically, she could be ready and over there in just over an hour. That could work, she thought, with the drive out to the homestead that would put her over there just before four. So, only an hour earlier than she had intended. She definitely wasn’t going to say no to Waverly’s offer of seeing her sooner, Nicole smiled to herself. She still couldn’t believe the turn of events from yesterday to today. 

Nicole <3: Yay! I was uhhh.. Going to wear a dress. It’s kind of a fancy place, you said you like seafood, right? I think if I hustle through my to do list, I could be there in about an hour and twenty minutes or so. Does that sound good? 

Waverly’s heart started pounding. Nicole in a dress… A smile was glued to her face. She did a happy dance. “WYNONNA!!” She yelled, drawing her sister out of her nap on the couch downstairs. 

“Are you okay, baby girl?!” Wynonna yelled back. When Waverly didn’t respond, Wynonna got up and started to stumble, sleepily up the stairs. 

Waves :): A dress?! Oh my. :) The time sounds perfect, as well. And yes, I love seafood. I can’t wait! 

Waverly thought about it for a few seconds and sent the emoji that was a wink with a heart kiss. She was practically bouncing when Wynonna made it into the room. “What’s wrong, Waves?” Wynonna was looking around the room, but eyeing her bouncing sister more than anything. 

“I need you to help me pick out a dress for dinner tonight.” Waverly squeaked a bit, “oh, and I need you to leave, like right after that.” Waverly blushed, but Wynonna just smiled. 

“Ok, do you know their color scheme? Are you trying to match? Are you trying to look sexy? Pretty? Slutty?” Wynonna made a ‘please don’t actually say yes to the last one,’ face, but continued, “sophisticated? What are we going for?” 

Waverly was digging through her closet, “I don’t know” she started pulling dresses out and laying them down on the bed, “somewhere between sexy and sophisticated?” 

They had narrowed it down to three options and had gotten Waverly’s hair and makeup done. They had picked out shoes and accessories for each, so all that was left was for Waverly to try them on and pick. 

Waverly’s phone chimed while she was changing in the bathroom. Wynonna was standing next to it, it wasn’t her fault that she read “Nicole <3,” she smiled. She was honestly just so happy that Waverly was this excited. She started to put all of the other dresses away, not wanting Waverly to catch on that she had seen the phone screen. 

Waverly rushed back into the room, “Was that my phone?” 

“My god, baby girl. You look beautiful. That’s what you should wear tonight.” Wynonna was smiling with such a look of pride that it brought tears to both their eyes. 

“Thanks, ‘Nonna.” Waverly beamed, “Can you zip me the rest of the way up?” 

“Sure thing, then I’ll go ahead and get going… I could stay you know?” She grinned, “scope them out from the barn for you.” 

Waverly laughed, “what if we just start planning a double date? Maybe two weeks out?” She genuinely wanted to tell her. This would have been the perfect moment, but there was something about it being Nicole, and so perfect, that Waverly wanted to keep it to herself for just a little while longer. They hadn’t even really done anything yet, other than exchange wonderful, magical kisses in Nicole’s truck, and she wanted to get through Nicole’s sister at the very least, first. 

“Double date? Who would I take?” She zipped up the back of Waverly’s dress. 

“See, two weeks gives you plenty of time to decide.” Waverly smirked. 

“Alright smartass, have fun tonight. You do look really lovely.” Wynonna kissed Waverly’s forehead and then made her way out the front door, she might as well go into BBD headquarters and annoy Dolls for the rest of the day. 

As soon as Wynonna was out the door, Waverly ran to her phone. 

Nicole <3: Hey, I got finished up here a little early, is it cool if I head that way? 

Waves :): Yes! Of course. See you soon. 

Waverly looked at the time it was three-seventeen. She had twenty minutes at least to get as much research in as she could. She sat an alarm on her phone and pulled up google. “How do lesbians have sex?” 

Twenty minutes, and about thirty articles later, Waverly felt a lot better about anywhere this date might lead her tonight. She exited all of the tabs and shut her laptop. She could do this, when she thought about Nicole, she knew she could do most of the things that she had just read, and would happily let Nicole do most of them to her, too. She put all of the remaining dresses up and looked at herself one last time in the mirror. Her face was a little flushed from some of the reading, but other than that she was really pleased with the reflection. 

She and Wynonna had chosen a solid blue, off the shoulder dress, that went down to her mid thigh and clung to all the right places. The blue had brought out the blue flakes in her eyes, and the cut showed off her shoulders, arms, and cleavage. She put her heels and purse by the door so they’d be ready to go when she and Nicole were ready to leave. 

She made a last sweep of her house, making sure everything was clean and put away just in time to hear a strong knock at the door. She smiled and ran to open it. As soon as she did, her breath was immediately taken away. 

Nicole was wearing a very sexy black dress. It was cut low down the front and a slit high up her right thigh. Her hair was in loose curls that framed her face. Waverly’s mouth had fallen open, she was down right starring. Fortunately for Waverly, Nicole missed how blatantly she was being checked out because Nicole was taking Waverly in, in the exact same way. 

“Umm… Wow.” Waverly exhaled nervously. “Shit, sorry, um please, come inside.” 

Nicole chuckled, pleased at Waverly’s reaction to her in the dress. “Waves, you look… stunning,” she said as she entered the Earp homestead. 

With Nicole in heels and Waverly out, there was well over half a foot of a height difference. Waverly giggled, happily as she took Nicole’s long legs in as she passed. “So this is the living room.” 

Nicole spun and handed Waverly a single rose. “Before I forget.” 

Waverly blushed and bit her lip, “You’re amazing.” She smiled up at Nicole, “You can take your heels off if you’d like and I can take your purse. Also, I have wine in the kitchen. Or water. Or probably a bunch of things if Wynonna didn’t drink them all already.” Waverly was nervous and doing her nervous ramble. 

Nicole found it all adorable, but she kicked off her heels and set her purse down next to Waverly’s. “Wine sounds lovely. And you…” She gave Waverly another once over, “are a vision.” 

Waverly blushed and leaned up on her toes to kiss Nicole on the cheek. She bit her lip, “here let me give you the official tour.” She grabbed Nicole’s hand and started weaving her through the small house. “Dining room, kitchen, technically Wynonna’s room, but she tends to sleep on the couch, back to the living room, and up there are mine and…” Waverly paused, this is why she had never given a full tour, “ummm what I guess is still Willa’s room.” She shook it off, “Want to see mine?” She raised an eyebrow suggestively at Nicole. 

It was Nicole’s turn to lose all the air in her lungs, but she tried her best not to show it, letting her confidence shine through, “Sure, if you want to show me, I’d love to see it.” She smiled her classic dimpled smile. 

Still holding her hand Waverly lead her upstairs, “so, this is me here on the left.” She smiled and ushered Nicole into her small room. 

Nicole smiled taking in some of the photos on Waverly’s walls. She recognized some of the faces, Chrissy Nedley, Wynonna, Stephanie Jones with a few guys she had seen around the bar. There was one of a young Waverly with Gus and Shorty and another man who must have been her Uncle Curtis that completely melted Nicole’s heart. She felt like Waverly had really let her into her space by showing her her bedroom. 

Nicole moved to a map on the wall covered with pins of all different colors, “what do the colors mean?” She asked, turning to see Waverly leaning awkwardly against the door frame. She smiled and held her hand out, wanting Waverly to come show her. 

Waverly moved closer, very aware of how close they were to her bed and even more aware of how closely Nicole was looking at everything. She was definitely not scrutinizing, but instead, memorizing everything, taking the care to notice it if Waverly took the time to put it up. Waverly was blushing, No one, not even Wynonna, had asked about her map of the world, “Ummm… well, let’s see. The red pins are countries where I know the language and there’s a pin for all the places I’d want to see if I could ever visit. The blue pins are in countries, where I know a common language that they speak there, so I know I could successfully get around, the green pins are places I want to go, but want to learn their language first, and the white pins are the places that I don’t care if I ever learn their language, I just need to go there at some point.” Waverly finished with a nervous laugh, very aware that the majority of the map had a pin of one color or another. 

“There are a lot of red pins on here.” Nicole said impressed, “I mean, I know we talked about your degree in languages, but the predominant pin color is red.” 

Waverly blushed and nodded. 

“Where do you want to go first?” Nicole asked turning her full attention to Waverly. “Like, boom, dream vacation you get two weeks to go anywhere in the world, where do you go?” 

Waverly smiled, “I’d have to say… ugh.. That’s hard. But I think, I’d probably try to do a roadtrip from Vatican City to Paris to Barcelona.” Waverly laughed, “That would be a lot to squeeze in, but I want to do that trip more than I know how to tell you. Do you have a dream trip?” 

“Ireland and Scotland. Haught is technically an English name, but a good portion of them moved to Ireland and I’m from that branch. If you couldn’t tell.” She smiled and gestured at her hair. 

Waverly giggled, she was relaxing to Nicole in her space. Nicole was the first person that wasn’t Wynonna to be in her room here at the homestead, but she liked it. She wondered if soon, she’d have a picture of the two of them to put up on her wall or her desk. The thought made her smile. “Do you want a glass of wine?” 

Nicole licked her lips, she did want a glass. She also wanted to kiss Waverly again, but she didn’t want to push it. “Yes, please.” Her voice was lower than intended. 

Waverly noticed and moved closer to her. She was already debating kissing her, but when her voice melted through her like that, she couldn’t help herself. Nicole helped close the remaining gap. Their mouths meeting gently in the middle. Waverly’s hands rested on the back of Nicole’s neck, careful not to mess up her hair. 

Not wanting to mess up any part of Waverly’s outfit, Nicole grabbed Waverly’s forearms and held her in place. They kissed for quite some time before breaking apart. Nicole smiled, the happiest she had ever been in her life. 

Waverly was flushed but beaming, she had never felt that way from a kiss before. She smiled back at Nicole. “I really like it when we kiss.” Waverly said. 

“Me too.” Nicole bit her lip before leaning in to kiss Waverly again. 

***

Nicole opened the door for Waverly at her pickup truck and walked around to get in on the driver’s side. She was pleased to find that Waverly had raised up her little center console and was buckling herself in in the middle seat with a smile captivating her face. 

Nicole smiled and started her truck up. The radio came in, soft in the background, as Waverly took Nicole’s hand. “You can change the radio, I rarely even register that it’s on.” 

Waverly spun the tuning dial and found a top forty station, but she left the volume pretty low. Waverly was nervously searching for words, “hey, thanks for this. I’ve never, well, it feels like I’ve never been on a real date before.” 

Nicole takes a sideways glance at her, not pulling her eyes of the road for too long, but long enough to know that Waverly was blushing and looked genuinely excited. Nicole smiled, knowing Waverly would share more if she wanted or needed to, “thank you, for letting me take you. If you want, I can think of a bunch of dates to take you on.” 

Waverly turned towards her, “can I maybe take you on one?” She was nervous, that was a new concept to her, the ability to take Nicole on a date. Champ had been so backward, dates had been his job, but his idea of a date was one of his rodeo buddies throwing a party and getting as trashed as possible. 

“Sure! You can take me wherever you want.” Nicole was smiling so hard at this point, she wondered how long it would take before her dimples became permanent. 

Waverly beamed, she already knew where she would take her. She knew of a beautiful spot hidden away in a nearby forest. She had always wanted to go on a picnic date, and she was more than a little excited she could now make that a reality. 

Waverly changed the subject, “So, tell me more about your sister. I know that she’s really nice over the phone,” Waverly laughed thinking about the sister outing Nicole’s real feelings, “and according to you: perfect, younger than you, married, and knows that we’re… together. Well, and I know some childhood stories that involve her that you’ve shared, but I guess the question is, why did you make up the relationship?” 

Nicole sighed, the reason was kind of heavy. 

Waverly looked up at her, “Sorry, I didn’t even think. You don’t have to answer, I didn’t mean to pry.” She kissed Nicole on the cheek. 

“No, it’s okay. If we’re really together, we’ve got to be able to talk about all of the serious stuff eventually, right?” Nicole searched for a place to start. 

Waverly kissed her knuckles, smiling softly at the fact that they were really together and that it was going to be a mature and healthy relationship where they shared feelings and histories and hopes and dreams with each other. 

“Okay, so we’re pretty close in age. I’m about to be twenty-five, so she’ll be almost twenty-four. We’re like seventeen months apart. We were really close growing up, we played different sports, so we were never really competing against each other, we were always there to support each other. I played basketball and soccer and she played volleyball and swam. And everything was fine, we were in different grades, so it didn’t matter that we were both fighting for the top of our class. But then when I went off to college, things started to change, and I didn’t know what it was until I came home for Christmas break and found out that my high school girlfriend, who was a grade behind me and friends with Hailey, had outed me to everyone when we broke up. So, when I got back, my sister didn’t want anything to do with me. And I went back to college thinking it was because I’m gay, and didn’t know for years that it was really because I hadn’t told her. I had kept something so serious and crucial to who I was away from her. And it didn’t help that I had dated one of her friends, and that when her friend outed me she lost me and the friend and kind of got isolated at school because of the whole thing.” Nicole frowned, “We slowly went back to communicating more often than just when we were both home for the holidays, but everyone in my family just like, never acknowledged that I’m gay. It was like the whole thing never happened. And it was infuriating and upsetting and I didn’t want to bring it up, so we all just kind of stayed estranged for a really long time. Then, one night, about six months before I moved to Purgatory, I got drunk and called her and that’s how I know that it was all just because I hadn’t told them. And they were all trying to wait until I was the one to say it because Oprah said they shouldn’t force me out of the closet. And they were all hurt that I didn’t trust them with the information. So a couple of hung over phone calls the next day and I had my family back. And Hailey, being supportive, perfect Hailey, put me in her wedding and made me the maid of honor and has been nothing but wonderful, but she refused to believe I was single. And not wanting to hurt her again, by ‘keeping her out of my life,’ I finally said she was right, that I did have a girlfriend and that she could come meet her whenever she wanted. And she booked the next available flight while on the phone with me.” 

Waverly took it all in before commenting, “I’m glad you have them back. And I’m glad I’ll get to meet her. She sounds kind of like Wynonna in the fiercely loyal regard.” Waverly thought about everything, “I need to tell Wynonna that we’re together for that same reason. I don’t want her to find out and be hurt I didn’t tell her.” 

Nicole nodded, “I’m glad you’re going to meet Hailey, too.” Nicole paused, squeezing Waverly’s hand a little tighter, “Waves, I don’t want to rush you into telling Wynonna. It’s your own thing, and I get that, I just don’t want you to feel pressured by me on top of the weight of the situation anyways.” 

Waverly smiled, “It’s not that I haven’t told her because you’re a woman. Wynonna has been gone for three years. Sharing anything personal with her is new, and she always hated Champ, I mean for obvious reasons, but even before she left, we didn’t share because she hated who I was with. It’s just all new to me. Having someone worth sharing is new, but she does know that I’m happier than I’ve ever been. And I told her we should plan a double date. I just didn’t tell her that it was you I’d be taking. She refers to you as mystery date.” 

A smile pulled through all of Nicole’s worry and stress about the truth of her sister. “Who would your sister take?” 

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Waverly laughed. 

***

The rest of the car ride had been much less serious. They had laughed and sung along to the radio, both being pleasantly surprised at the other’s singing capability, belting out duets and harmonizing beautifully. The trip alone had been worth it for Waverly, but when they pulled up to the restaurant, her mouth fell open. 

Both doors of the truck were opened by valet and both of the women were helped out of the truck. Nicole handed one of the men her truck key and some neatly folded cash. “Ready?” Nicole asked, but Waverly could only nod, she’d never been to a place with a valet before. 

The restaurant was attached to a resort of some sort, probably a ski resort when the winter finally set in, but for now it was a lakeside paradise. Nicole told the host that they were there for the “Haught reservation.” 

Waverly blushed, she had never needed a reservation at a restaurant either. She was incredibly thankful she had gone with the sexy sophisticated dress option. The men there were all in suits and ties, and the women all looked elegant. “This place is incredible,” Waverly whispered, leaning into Nicole’s neck so only she would hear. Waverly noticed a subtle perfume, it made her mouth water. She wondered how one put on so little perfume it could only be smelled at point blank range. Champ had had the tendency to douse his body in Axe body spray, it had been insufferable. But this, this had the effect of making Waverly want to bury her face in the curve of Nicole’s neck. 

Nicole smiled her disarmingly beautiful smile, “I’m glad you like it.” 

Waverly tentatively took Nicole’s hand, unsure about pda in a place so nice, but she was pleased to find that Nicole didn’t mind at all, she linked their fingers together effortlessly. “Right this way, ladies.” The host said, coming back with two freshly folded menus. 

He lead them outside and down to a secluded table that overlooked the lake. It was shielded from the wind, and lit with candles and paper lanterns. It looked like something out of a fairy tale. 

“From what I’ve heard,” Nicole said, “the swordfish and the crabs are amazing.” 

Waverly took in the menu, it was fresh, there was no sleeve or lamination of any kind. There weren’t even prices, Waverly had never seen a menu without prices. She looked at Nicole across the small table, studying the menu of her own. Waverly was awestruck, this was an evening unlike any other and Nicole was casually reading the menu. “Ummm… what are you getting?” Waverly asked. 

Nicole smiled, “I think probably a steak. I haven’t had a really good steak in a long time. What looks good to you?” 

“You.” Waverly said before she could stop herself. “Sorry.” She crinkled her face in embarrassment. 

Nicole laughed, “Thank you.” Her voice dropped an octave on it’s own accord, “I meant what looks good for dinner, but I suppose I could be desert, if you’d like.” 

Waverly’s mouth went dry, Nicole’s charm melted through her like a hot knife on butter. “I’ve never had swordfish. That sounds like it could be worth a shot.” 

Their waiter appeared and started asking them about their first course: salads, and their second course: soup, and their third course: the actual meal, and finally the desert. After the waiter took their food, she started running them through wine pairings. After everything had been selected she disappeared, leaving the two women alone with the sound of the lake’s water lapping softly against the nearby dock. 

“This is honestly unbelievable to me. I never thought I would be in a place this fancy.” She laughed, embarrassed by her small-town-girl statement. 

Nicole smiled, hoping the date wasn’t making Waverly uncomfortable. Nicole had received a lot of money from an inheritance check about a year ago, had gotten scholarships all through college for soccer, and had been saving since she started at the police academy. In short, Nicole had a lot of money and hadn’t thought twice about splurging for the first time in her life. Waverly was worth it, making this night magical had been worth it. She had gotten the dress she was currently wearing that morning. In all honesty, Nicole hadn’t worn a dress since her sister’s wedding, but she barely counted that because it wasn’t really her choice, she was just thankful she hadn’t tripped in her heels yet. “Is it okay?” 

“What?” Waverly’s eyes lit up. “Okay? Nicole, this is amazing. It’s like out of a movie.” She was beaming, “I just can’t believe it’s happening to me. But yes, it’s more than okay, it’s… you’re, like, a unicorn.” Waverly laughed. 

“What?” Nicole tilted her head, confused. 

“It’s like I always wanted there to actually be one, but I’d never seen one, so it was getting hard to believe it was really possible. And then all of the sudden there you were, and it took a while for me to wrap my mind around it, but you’re real. You’re my unicorn.” She crinkled her face again, clearly embarrassed. 

Nicole was trying to find the right words to respond, when she was interrupted by their waitress with more water, their wine, and their salads. 

***

Waverly fell asleep on Nicole’s shoulder on the drive home. It had gotten incredibly late, again, before they even realized what time it was. Nicole smiled and kissed the top of Waverly’s head. Nicole had never been this happy. She couldn’t wait to introduce Waverly to Hailey, she couldn’t wait to do everything with Waverly, really. 

When they pulled to a stop at the homestead, Nicole had shut the engine off and turned towards Waverly, but not so far that her head would fall. “Waves, baby, you’re home.” She said gently, kissing the top of her head again. 

“Hmm?” Waverly mumbled, her voice too coated with sleep for actual words. She had just been having the most peaceful sleep of her life. 

“You’re home. We’re back.” Nicole said through a smile. 

“Home?” Waverly forced an eye open and realized she was in Nicole’s truck, fast asleep on Nicole’s shoulder. She forced her other eye open. “I’m so sorry.” She whispered. 

Nicole furrowed her brow, “what on Earth are you sorry for?” 

“Falling asleep.” She hadn’t stopped leaning on Nicole’s shoulder though, she was too comfortable. 

Nicole laughed, “Waves, I don’t mind. It’s after one in the morning, and you’re a darn cute sleeper.” 

Waverly blushed, “thank you for tonight, it was just magical.” 

Nicole, “I’m glad you had a great time. I’m kind of crazy about you.” 

Waverly looked up at that and deep into Nicole’s eyes. Nicole was biting her lip, worried that she had said too much. “I feel the same.” Waverly leaned up and kissed Nicole. It was a different kind of kiss than the ones they had shared before, it was deeper, more meaningful. Waverly sighed contentedly when the kiss broke. “When do I get to take you on a date?” 

Nicole groaned, “Unfortunately, I work every day from now until when my sister gets here.” Waverly looked a little disappointed, “Are you going to be working?” 

Waverly nodded, “tonight kind of made me forget about things like work.” She laughed. 

“Well, could I maybe drive you home then? Our shifts should end around the same time.” Nicole froze, “you can say no though, I’d be in the cruiser.” 

Waverly smiled, shyly, “I still say yes.” 

Nicole thought her face would crack at the smile that just split across it. “Okay, then I’ll see you tomorrow night.” 

Waverly nodded before kissing her again. “Good night, Nicole.” 

“Good night, Waverly.” Nicole said with one more quick kiss. 

Waverly slipped into the homestead to see a sleeping Wynonna on the couch. She couldn’t wait, she was too excited for this to wait until morning, “psst.. Wynonna. Hey, sis. Wake up.” 

“Hey, you’re home. How was date number two?” 

“I ummm… I think I’m in love.”


	4. The time in between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything that happens between date number two and Hailey's visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, let me apologize for the crazy amount of time it has taken me to get this together. There are several reasons it took so long, but I am still terribly sorry.  
> Second, this chapter is pretty long, so I hope that makes up some for the delay.  
> Third, one of the reasons for the delay is that I've had a brutal cold. That being said, this may be just about the worst chapter, grammatically, that I'll ever post on here. But as I've mentioned, it's long and proofreading is hard when you can't really focus.  
> Fourth, I hope you enjoy it. I feel like that this story could have turned into a thirty chapter novel with a sequel and spin-offs, but (confession time) I have a really serious problem when it comes to finishing stories in that I don't, and I am determined (thanks to y'all) to finish this one.  
> Fifth, that means there's going to be one more chapter to this tale (Hailey's visit) then I'm back to Camp Holliday.  
> Sixth, thank you all so much for reading and commenting and giving kudos. I'm still incredibly new to the whole fan fiction world and you've all made me really just enjoy writing again. <3 
> 
> That said, I truly hope you enjoy this chapter.

Wynonna sat up on the couch, unsure of how to respond to Waverly’s sudden declaration of love. “I take it the second date went really well?” 

“Oh my, ‘Nonna, it was unreal. I don’t even know where to start.” Waverly’s eyes were practically glazed over she was so far off in another place. 

Wynonna just watched her with a smile, “so… When do I get to meet this person? I feel like, as your big sister, and your roommate, if they’re going to start having sleepovers, I should know who I’m going to be fighting for the bathroom.” 

Waverly bit her lip and stared at the floor, ‘you can do this,’ she thought, ‘don’t let this turn into a Hailey situation. You know she’s not going to care, you know Nicole is a helluva better choice than Champ, just do it.’ Waverly inhaled sharply. 

“Waves, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Wynonna said softly. It was clear she would be a little hurt if Waverly didn’t want to tell her, but she would also understand. “I know I wasn’t the most supportive of your previous relationship, but I also know that this person isn’t Champ. And I know that they’re doing a much better job of taking you on dates if date number two meant that you got to dress like that and were gone for roughly eight hours. And I know that you never came home, from even a full weekend with Champ, looking like you just saw the moon for the first time. So, you don’t have to tell me. I just want you to know that you can, and that I already approve of them and that I just want to know so I can share in even more of the joy.” Wynonna was proud of herself for making it through her speech. She had been working on for almost an hour before falling asleep. 

Waverly’s mouth fell open. She sat down on the couch next to Wynonna and wrapped her into a huge hug. “I was going to tell you anyways, but damn.” She giggled, finally letting go. She took a deep breath, “I’m dating Nicole… errrr… Officer Haught.” 

This was the part Wynonna had been most concerned about, she didn’t want to give it away that she already knew. She didn’t want to be overly dramatic, but she also didn’t want to say, ‘no shit, why else would there have been a long strand of red hair on the black shirt you returned to me?’ She had planned a whole reaction speech as well, but Waverly was so cute and embarrassed and adorable with her admission that all Wynonna could do was smile like an idiot. 

Waverly risked a glance at Wynonna’s reaction and raised an eyebrow, confused. “Is that okay? How do you feel about that? Say something.” 

“No, sorry, I just. That’s awesome. She’s actually a really cool person. And she lives up to her last name, if I may be so bold.” She was still beaming. 

Waverly started to grin as well. “She’s kind of amazing.” 

“Well now that I know that mystery date is Haughtstuff, can you please explain how your first date wasn’t a date until the end of it? Because I’m still lost. She brought you the flowers, right?” 

***

“Okay, so she’s not your girlfriend because you’ve only been on two dates, but her sister is coming into town on Thursday and thinks you ARE her girlfriend. Which, most importantly, you want to be, but you have no clue how to make that happen because you’re both girls and don’t know who gets to ask who?” Wynonna had convinced Waverly to drink and was trying to help Waverly iron out all of the kinks in this plan. 

They were sitting in their pajamas at the kitchen table passing a bottle of whiskey back and forth. Waverly had texted Nicole and let her know that she had told Wynonna, they had been texting ever since. Nicole had the late shift the next day, and wasn’t concerned with staying awake until what was now after three in the morning. 

“Well have y’all taken any photos together?” Wynonna asked, standing to pace. 

“No, I wish I had gotten one of us all dressed up tonight though. Damn, seriously ‘Nonna, I wish you had seen her. I thought she was hot in a uniform...” Waverly took a swig of whiskey at the thought. 

Wynonna just laughed, “Well if you’re trying to pull off ‘girlfriends,’ y’all have to get some photos together, of each other, of places y’all have been together. I’m talking phone lock screen status, a framed one at Nicole’s apartment, stuff to show her sister if she wants to see photos of one of y’alls dates.” 

“That’s actually brilliant.” Waverly started typing a text message to Nicole, 

Waves :): Hey, we need to take a bunch of photos together at some point this week. ;) 

Nicole <3: Sure! :) Ummmm… Why? Not mad, definitely down, but is there a reason? 

Waves :): My sister is a genius. 

Nicole <3: Well, alright then. Sounds good to me. 

Nicole knew not to question it, Waverly had warned her that she was about to be on the receiving end of Earp's consuming hard liquor. She had just asked that they promised not to go anywhere, that if they needed anything, to call her and have her get it. 

Nicole was, quite frankly, ecstatic. She couldn’t believe that Waverly had told Wynonna. She was a little nervous about the possibility of running into Wynonna at the Sheriff’s Department the next day, but according to Waverly, Wynonna had been completely supportive and excited about the relationship and happy for them both. Nicole was still very nervous about a girl with that much of a criminal record, now some sort of government agent, being the sister of her… girlfriend? 

Nicole had really wanted to just ask Waverly to be her girlfriend tonight, but she also didn’t want to scare her away. They had only gone on two dates, and while Nicole was well aware of the fact that she was completely head over heels for Waverly, she didn’t want to profess her undying love and have Waverly change her mind. She didn’t really think that Waverly would, but it would really suck if she did. 

Nicole’s phone buzzed again. She was lying down in bed sleeping in between text messages. She knew she’d be down for the count at some point, but she was really enjoying the fact that she and Waverly had just hung out for eight hours, but still had things to text each other about. 

Waves :): How long does your sister think I’ve been your girlfriend? 

Nicole frowned, what on Earth could they be doing over there while drinking? She laughed at the thought. 

Nicole <3: About a month. Why??? 

Waves :): Well, we’re trying to figure out how to make us look like we’ve been together for a full month, as opposed to about thirty five solid hours. 

Wynonna laughed as she took another swig of whiskey, “ask her if you should take a toothbrush over there, and some books. What are other Waverly things you could put over there?” 

“After a month? It’s not like she thinks we live together.” Waverly was not getting what Wynonna thought was so funny. 

“Well yeah, but isn’t the lesbian stereotype, ‘u-hauling,’ in reference to how fast lesbian relationships move?” Wynonna started cracking up again, “shiiiit, you even said you were in love after your second date.” 

Waverly blushed, knowing that Wynonna had a point, “I guess I should ask her.” 

Waves :): Should I maybe give you things to put around your apartment, like a toothbrush, books, anything else you can think of, so that it looks more legit? 

Waverly left out the ‘uhauling’ bit. The thought of some of her stuff at Nicole’s made her heart race. It brought up all of the feelings of Nicole being in her room, exciting and comforting all at once. 

Nicole stared at her screen, it was actually a really good idea. But the thought of some of Waverly’s belongings here made her mouth go dry. How had she not thought of that idea? That also explained the text about the photos, she thought. 

Nicole <3: Actually, yeah. That’s brilliant. I’d say a toothbrush, a few books, and maybe a pair of shoes something similar. Nicole <3: Ohhhh how about a phone charger?? Since we have different phones? 

“Was I right?” Wynonna was practically bouncing as Waverly’s phone chimed. 

Waverly laughed, “Yes, Wyn, yes. You were right.” 

***

Nicole walked into the Sheriff’s Department at one forty-five the next day carrying a rather full duffle bag. After she picked Waverly up from work that night, they were going to go over to the homestead and try to take a bunch of different photos so they could have lock screen images and a photo or two to print to frame, and just others to fill their phones in case Hailey wanted to see. 

She headed straight into the locker room only to find Wynonna straddling one of the benches, waiting for her with a second cup of coffee sitting on the bench in front of her. “Waverly told me you like cappuccinos.” Wynonna said patting the bench just beyond the coffee cup. 

Nicole swallowed nervously. She had never been through an awkward threatening from an older sibling and she didn’t think that Wynonna Earp, with her huge freaking gun, was a very fair first go of it. 

Nicole set the full duffle bag down in front of her locker and kicked a leg up and over the bench. She put her brave face on and took a sip of the cappuccino, thankful it wasn’t already cold. “I do like them, thank you.” 

Wynonna smiled, “So, here’s the deal Haughtstuff. I know that you’ve started dating Waverly…” 

“Wynonna, I…” 

“No, let me finish.” Wynonna bounced her leg, jittery from all the caffeine,“Just promise me you’re really this amazing, and not just going to do this until your sister leaves.” 

“What? I would never, I really really like her.” 

“Okay, because she’s been hurt enough. Between Daddy dying, Willa getting kidnapped, me going crazy and abandoning her, and Champ cheating on her every chance he got, I don’t know how much more she can take and she’s pretty darn smitten with you.” 

Nicole blushed, but she kept her eyes locked on Wynonna’s “I don’t ever want to hurt her.” 

“Right,” Wynonna sprung from her seat, “Good talk, Haughtshot.” She winked at Nicole and walked off gulping down her coffee. 

Nicole breathed for what felt like the first since entering the locker room. “Well that could have gone much much worse,” she muttered to herself before taking another sip of her cappuccino. 

***

Waverly’s shift could not end fast enough. The thought of getting to take pictures with Nicole tonight had made it impossible to keep her focus on her bar work. 

“What’s got you all dazed?” Gus asked, watching Waverly polish the same glass for the third time. She wasn’t mad. Actually, she was quite the opposite. She had never seen perfectionist Waverly daydream so intensely about something that it made her less than great at her job. 

“What?” Waverly shook herself out of it and put the sparkling glass down. 

“This wouldn’t have something to do with what’s got your schedule in a twist from last week through until next, now would it?” 

Waverly blushed, Gus had gone out of her way to help Waverly get all of her hours for the week, but still have off Friday afternoon through until next Monday’s night shift. The result was switching a lot of extra shifts to get everything covered properly. Gus hadn’t even hesitated. 

First, Waverly had never asked for a full weekend off since she first started working there, three years prior. Second, when asking for the days off, Waverly had blushed and rambled and avoided eye contact. And third, when Gus had called Wynonna to get her take on it, Wynonna told her that ‘she didn’t know what Waverly was up to, but that it was her business and they should respect that she has plans all weekend.’ Now Gus might not have been the birth mother of these two girls, but she had raised them long enough to know that if Wynonna didn’t know something, she would damn well find out. For Wynonna to not react, meant she knew what it was and approved. So, Gus made sure Waverly got to go do it, whatever it may be. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try to find out herself. 

“Sorry I’m distracted today, Gus.” 

“Oh that’s okay, Honey. I just want to make sure everything’s alright with you, is all.” She smiled her loving smile. 

“More than.” Waverly was practically glowing. 

About fifteen minutes until the bar closed, Gus saw a redheaded Sheriff’s Deputy walk up to the bar to order something. The next thing she saw was Waverly’s eyes take the Deputy in. Gus watched the exchange. Waverly nervously biting her lip and leaning against the counter, laughing at whatever the Officer had just told her. Waverly had never flirted with a customer that blatantly before. Gus chuckled to herself. She had owned a bar long enough to know how to read people; workers, customers, and their interactions amongst each other, and this was incredibly obvious and incredibly amusing all at once. “Well, I’ve figured out the weekend plans,” she smiled and shook her head walking into the back to finish up the inventory for the night. 

Waverly got Nicole a cappuccino to go, and told Nicole she was welcome to wait for her at a booth in the back corner while she finished cleaning up. Nicole watched as the last few stragglers made their way out of the bar, several of them professing their undying love for Waverly as they went. 

Nicole just laughed, enjoying the way Waverly politely thanked them and jokingly promised to not tell their wives or girlfriends. She really was the most kind person Nicole had ever met, not to mention the most beautiful. Abs and honey had been an actual ramble when her sister was interrogating her about her new girlfriend, and this was before she had even asked Waverly to be her fake date. Now she was watching Waverly’s abs as she reached up, way over her head to try and hang some wine glasses. 

Determined as ever, Waverly could get the wine glasses on the rack without needing the step ladder, it just took a lot of concentration and upper body strength. She hadn’t heard Nicole cross the now empty bar to help her, so she jumped slightly when Nicole reached over her head with a second glass without even making contact with her body. Waverly spun around, Nicole hovering over her, she reminded herself to breath. “Thanks, I can do it, you know.” 

Nicole smiled her dimpled smile, “I know. I just watched you get that one up there, but I also thought I could help you so we could go take some photos, and it seemed to me like my height could be a little useful.” 

“You are very tall.” Waverly blushed, fighting a smile, she didn’t like people making short jokes, but Nicole hadn’t. She was just trying to be helpful. She was also still intoxicatingly close. “Okay,” Waverly consented, handing Nicole the next glass, but not moving from her spot in between Nicole and the rack overhead. 

Nicole was smiling, a charming dimpled smile and raising up on her toes to avoid leaning into Waverly. Waverly handed her glass after glass, never breaking eye contact with her until they were out of glasses. “Anything else I can help you with, Ms. Earp?” Nicole pushed her Stetson back on her head a bit, raising an eyebrow. 

“Kiss me?” Waverly whispered. 

Nicole leaned down and kissed Waverly passionately, closing the intentional gap she had kept between them, their bodies now firmly pressed together with Waverly up against the bar. 

Waverly’s hands immediately snaked up around Nicole’s neck pulling her tighter still. She couldn’t believe it, she had never experience a kiss quite like this. She felt Nicole’s hands slide down her back to her butt and lift her effortlessly. Without consciously even thinking about it, she wrapped her legs around Nicole’s waist as Nicole sat her down on the bar. Waverly didn’t release her grip, she liked how Nicole fit pressed up against her. She liked how Nicole’s hands held her waist, how her thumbs traced gently up and down her abs. Waverly was completely lost in it all until she heard Gus’s office door shut. 

Nicole jumped back about three feet, fixed her hat and leaned casually against a counter to Waverly’s right. Waverly slid off the bar top and tried, unsuccessfully, to steady her breathing. Nicole was redding to match her hair, embarrassed that she couldn’t control herself at Waverly’s place of work. 

Gus rounded the corner and took the two women behind the bar in. She raised a knowing eyebrow, but said nothing. She surveyed the whole bar, seeing that Waverly had finished up everything but the cash register and smiled, “alright girls, why don’t y’all get on outta’ here. I can count the drawer for you tonight, Waves.” 

“Are… are you sure? I don’t mind, Gus.” 

“Oh I know you don’t, but I’m sure your nice Officer friend here is ready to help you get home safe.” She shot a motherly look to Nicole that screamed, ‘you better be taking her to her home.’ 

Nicole swallowed nervously. She knew that Gus had raised Waverly, and she had already survived a Wynonna talk today, she didn’t know if she was ready for Gus’s. She did think she should at least introduce herself, “I’m Nicole, Officer Haught. I’m new here.” She smiled as she extended her hand. 

Gus took it, smiling. The young deputy having the manners to introduce herself was more than Gus could say for Waverly’s ex, it was already a big improvement. Also the fact that she was a Sheriff’s Deputy said a lot for her character. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Officer Haught. You kids go on now, don’t let Wynonna get y’all into any trouble.” Gus said as she shooed them out the door. 

Once outside Waverly started to giggle, “I think Gus knows.” 

Nicole’s eyes widened, “I am so sorry, I know she means a lot to you. I ummm… didn’t mean to kind of… attack you at work, you were just so beautiful, I couldn’t help myself.” Nicole nervously bit her lip and fidgeted. 

Waverly blushed thinking about the kiss they had just shared. She leaned up and kissed Nicole on the cheek, “it’s fine, I’m glad you did.” She smiled, “I ummm.. Enjoyed it, if you couldn’t tell. And don’t worry about Gus, I can tell that she really liked you.” She laced her fingers through Nicole’s. “Ready to go take some pictures?” 

***

Wynonna wasn’t at the homestead when they got there, but the girls knew she’d show up eventually. She had promised to take some of the pictures for them. “Can I get you something to drink?” Waverly asked as they sat down at the kitchen table across from each other, “Or eat? Are you hungry? I can whip something up really quickly, if you’re hungry.” 

Nicole smiled, it had been a long time since she had been in a relationship, and thinking back on it, she’d never been in one with someone half as thoughtful or caring as Waverly Earp. “I’m not really hungry, but I would take a drink.” 

“Beer? Wine? Whiskey? Tequila? Vodka? Rum? Bubble Gum Sake that is actually pretty terrible?” 

“Do you have all of these things or are you just naming types of alcohol?” Nicole teased. 

“We’re Earp's. We have all of these things. Well, at least until Wynonna finishes them off and sends me out to buy more. If Wynonna wasn’t my sister and back in town, I’m pretty sure Mrs. Fieldman at the liquor store would think I have a problem.” Waverly rolled her eyes, but smiled. 

Nicole giggled, “Well then, a rum and coke sounds good to me. Where should I go to change out of this?” She stood and tugged at her uniform, untucking the shirt from her pants. 

Waverly smiled nervously, “Ummm… before you do…” 

Nicole watched Waverly fidget nervously, “yes?” She asked prompting Waverly to continue. 

Waverly bit her lip and looked anywhere but at Nicole, “I know what I want as my lock screen photo.” 

Nicole did her best to keep her face serious, but really, she was struggling and failing to hold back a smile, “and it involves me in my uniform?” 

Waverly just nodded, glancing up at Nicole’s face and crinkling her own in embarrassment. 

Nicole managed to pull off a serious voice, “Okay, what do I need to do?” 

Waverly’s leg was bouncing with nerves, she took a deep breath, “Just uhhh… have a seat.” 

Nicole sat back down. Her eyebrows drawn together, watching as Waverly grabbed her phone off of the counter and disappeared into the living room. She returned carrying Nicole’s white Stetson, a mischievous grin starting to play across her lips. 

Waverly sat down on Nicole’s lap and put the Stetson on her own head. Nicole laughed and wrapped her arms around Waverly’s waist. Waverly was practically radiating happiness by the time the camera app opened on her phone. They took a selfie, their first together, both smiling from ear to ear. Waverly leaned back into Nicole’s chest and snapped another from an overhead angle. Waverly was geared up to take another one from straight ahead when during the countdown, Nicole leaned in and kissed Waverly on the cheek. Waverly managed to catch her own reaction on film. She was blushing and smiling the most real smile she had ever captured on film. The Sheriff’s hat had been tilted back from when she had leaned back against Nicole’s chest. Nicole’s profile in the photo revealed closed eyes and a kiss that was also a hint of a smile. The result was nothing short of precious. 

“That’s it.” Waverly beamed, “that’s even better than what I wanted.” Waverly flipped through the filters on her phone and decided that it looked the best in black and white. She set it as her phone lock screen. 

Nicole couldn’t stop the smile on her lips. Her sister wasn’t going to be there until Thursday, but Waverly had already set the photo as her lock screen. “Can you send those to me?” Nicole asked, glad that Waverly was still sitting on her lap. 

“Of course.” Waverly turned so she was sitting perpendicular to Nicole, enjoying the comfort of Nicole’s arms holding her loosely about her waist. 

Nicole reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Waverly was just watching, amused that Nicole hadn’t asked for her to get up, she just made it work. Her phone buzzed in her hand as Waverly’s photo messages came through. She quickly saved them, making the last one her screen as well. 

She looked up to find Waverly still watching her. “What?” 

Waverly didn’t answer she just leaned down and kissed her. Waverly’s hand tangled into Nicole’s braid, she gently freed it from it’s tight band at the bottom. She worked it completely free as they kissed. 

Nicole’s hands stayed firmly on Waverly’s bare waist, she didn’t trust herself to let them roam. They might find themselves somewhere Waverly wasn’t ready for, so she left them locked in place along either side of Waverly’s abs. 

They broke their kiss, Waverly was smiling. “You’re really good at that, Officer Haught.” She winked. 

Nicole blushed, “why thank you, ma’am.” 

Waverly sighed happily, running her fingers through Nicole’s hair a few times to brush out the tangles she had just created. “I’ll get you that drink.” She stood up and moved to the counter. Instead of taking Nicole’s hat off, she just adjusted it back down to fitting properly. 

Nicole watched Waverly’s bartending skills at work as she poured two, tall rum and cokes. “One for you.” She said with a smile. “Oh, and you can change in my room, if you want. If you’d rather, there’s a bathroom down here and one at the end of the hall upstairs. You’re free to use either of those.” 

Nicole took a big sip of the rum and coke, ‘change in Waverly’s room?’ She thought, her heart rate skyrocketing. She took another big sip to help take the edge off her nerves. She was already shocked that they had already kissed so many times tonight. She was both worried it was all moving too quickly for Waverly and, if she was being completely honest, really enjoying it. 

“Okay, umm… I guess I’ll go up and change. I didn’t really know what to bring. So I just brought a few of my favorite outfits over.” 

“Yeah, I don’t think we need to go too crazy. I just agree with the point that Wynonna made that we should have a few together, in case she sees our phones or wants to see a photo of us… I don’t even know why she would, but I guess just in case. It felt strange that if we’d been together for a month we wouldn’t have any photos together or of each other.” 

“No, I agree completely. Thank you, by the way for doing this. I know we just started dating… as a result of this situation…” Nicole laughed, “but seriously, Waves, thank you for still pretending to be my official girlfriend for a night.” 

Waverly smiled, “of course. I mean…” Waverly paused, trying to muster up the courage to say they’ll get there at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, when Wynonna opened the front door talking loudly on the phone. 

Nicole just smiled and whispered, “I’ll go change.” 

Waverly gulped down as much as she could of her drink before Wynonna made it into the kitchen, wrapping up her phone conversation. “Yes, Dolls. I hear you, mmhmm… loud and clear. Early morning tomorrow. Yep. Eight AM sharp. I promise to be there, I don’t promise to be nice.” She hung up the phone, “shiiiiit. That’s going to suck.” She looked at the clock, it was already almost two-thirty in the morning. “Nice hat.” She winked at Waverly. 

Waverly blushed darker than the coke label in front of her. She had completely forgotten she had Nicole’s hat on. “Uhh… thanks.” She held up her phone and clicked the side button so that Wynonna could see the lock screen. Waverly looked nervous, waiting for Wynonna’s response. 

Wynonna smiled. “Aw, Waves! That’s adorable. Y’all are actually really cute. You know, I’ve never even seen y’all speak to each other, so I couldn’t figure out how all this started. But this, this is so cute. You look really happy. Where is she?” 

“Upstairs changing.” Waverly blushed again. 

“And you’re down here chugging…” She picked up Waverly’s drink and sniffed it, “rum and coke and not up there, why?” She raised an eyebrow. 

Waverly bit her lip. 

Wynonna giggled, “are you afraid of ‘the next step?’” 

Waverly sighed, “I’m not afraid of it. I even did some research, I just… what if I suck at it? I mean I’ve never… you know…” Waverly chugged the rest of her drink. 

“Waves, just talk to her about it. Nicole’s awesome. You know she’ll probably walk you through… that. God, we really need to change the topic off of my baby sister having sex. Can you make me one of those?” 

Waverly laughed and poured them both drinks. “Thanks, Wyn. You’ve been a very good sister through this, and I’m really really thankful that you came home in time to help with this. I don’t know that I could have done this without you.” 

Wynonna’s heart soared. She pulled Waverly into an awkward hug. “Wait, did you say you did research? You’re even a nerd about sex!” The two sisters burst into laughter. 

The homestead was a lot of things, but sound proof was not one of them, and Nicole, who had just exited Waverly’s room heard Wynonna’s last comment. ‘RESEARCH? NERD ABOUT SEX? Did Waverly try to research how to have sex with a woman?’ Nicole’s brain stopped functioning and she subsequently froze at the top of the stairs. 

“Hey Haughtshot, you up there?” Wynonna yelled from the hallway at the base of the stairs. 

Nicole snapped to and started walking down them, ‘just make it through some pictures, ask Waverly about it later,’ she told herself. “I’m right here. Hey, Wynonna.” Nicole offered her a friendly smile. 

“Waves, you should go switch out of your Shorty’s shirt, Haught here is looking Haughter than you.” Wynonna winked at Nicole. 

Waverly rounded the corner from the kitchen and gave Nicole a once over. Nicole blushed, not ever knowing how to respond to Wynonna, but definitely being completely lost when she was left with both Earp's at once. “That she is.” Waverly said raising an eyebrow. “I’ll be right back.” 

***

The photos themselves were quick, but adorable. They took way more than necessary, but they were all having fun. Wynonna actually took very few photos, she mainly just helped pose them and yelled out lewd things to make them crack up mid shot. The result was pretty priceless. 

“Okay, wait! Real quick, before we’re done, Wynonna come get in one.” Waverly grinned at her and handed Nicole the phone. Nicole had become responsible for taking their selfies, as she had much longer arms. 

Wynonna just smiled, happy her sister wanted her to be included in this event. Waverly threw her arms around both women’s shoulders and smiled. Nicole and Wynonna both looped their arms around everyone’s back and leaned it. 

Waverly smiled at the photo. “This is my favorite picture ever.” She proudly proclaimed. 

“Send me that? That can be the one I frame.” Nicole said smiling. 

Wynonna was touched, “yeah, I’d like it too. It’s about time we update some frames around here.” She smiled at Nicole. “Anyone need another drink?” 

Nicole had only had the one when she got there, but the Earp sisters had continued in their fun. “No, I better stop. Tonight is not the night for Nicole to see me in full blown Earp.” Waverly said to Wynonna as she sauntered off into the kitchen. 

Nicole laughed, “you can have another. I should…” She sighed, “I should probably go soon, unfortunately. It’s well after three, and I’m pretty sure Calamity is going to hate me when I get home.” 

Waverly bit her lip trying to figure out how to ask her to stay, but not wanting to sound like she didn’t care about her cat. “Right, well, I had a great time as always.” 

“I did too. I wish I didn’t have to go so soon, but I really should go feed her.” 

“No, I know.” Waverly bit her lip. “You’re going to bring me home tomorrow right? And then the next day Hailey gets here?” 

“Yes, that’s the plan.” 

“Okay, and what’s the plan with Hailey? I have Thursday off, then I got a Friday morning shift, and then I’m off until Monday night.” 

“Oh cool, well their plane lands at three-fifty and I said I’d pick them up, so we should be back to my place around five. I can get dinner ready by six, probably.” 

“What if I cooked it? While you went to pick them up…” Waverly smiled. 

“You’d do that?” 

“Yeah, I really want her to like me. I’m not a bad cook, maybe it’ll help me win her over.” 

Nicole laughed, “yeah, like you need help winning people over. But sure, if you want, you can cook dinner. I’m sure she’d love that. Want to come over on Thursday then, around noon? I’ll have to leave in the late two’s to go get them, but we could hang out first?” 

“Yeah, that sounds great.” Waverly bit her lip, “so, I’ll see you tomorrow then?” 

Nicole’s thoughts were racing: ‘Ask her over. Ask her to come home with you. She can’t come home with you, Wynonna would totally know, and is she even ready for that? I mean she seems bummed you’re going home, but that’s just because she likes hanging out with you. Just make it through the visit with your sister, and then approach the topic of sex.’ She pushed all of the flip flop out of her mind, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be there to pick you up tomorrow after work. Let me run upstairs and grab my stuff and then maybe walk me to my car?” 

Waverly smiled and nodded. As soon as Nicole made it up the stairs Waverly went into the kitchen and poured and downed a shot of tequila. 

“Haughtshot spending the night?” Wynonna asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“No.” Waverly moaned. 

“What? Why not? Y’all have been eye-banging all night.” 

“She’s got to go take care of her cat.” 

“I thought that would be your job?” Wynonna laughed at her own terrible joke. 

Waverly sighed, “really it’s because I’m a chicken-shit and didn’t ask.” 

“The first step is admitting you have a problem.” Wynonna joked as Waverly left the kitchen to meet Nicole at the bottom of the stairs. “Good night, Haughtpants!” Wynonna yelled from the kitchen. 

Nicole laughed, “Good night, Wynonna! See you at work tomorrow.” 

The night was cooler than expected as they stepped out into it. Fall was on the horizon and Waverly couldn’t wait. Scarf season was her favorite. She grabbed Nicole’s hand and scooted closer to her to steal some warmth. Nicole just smiled and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in tight. 

They made it to the car without saying much, both too busy berating themselves in their minds for not making a move. 

“Thanks for doing all this.” Nicole motioned back to the house. 

“Of course, I had a great time. I always do.” Waverly was fidgeting nervously. 

They stood there in silence, sometimes looking at each other, but most of the time looking nervously anywhere else. Finally Nicole sighed, feeling completely defeated. “Alright, I should go. Good night, Waverly. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” She leaned down to kiss Waverly on the cheek. 

Waverly turned her head, capturing Nicole’s lips with her own. She might be too much of a chicken to ask her to stay the night, but she sure wasn’t going to let Nicole leave without a serious good night kiss. She tangled her fingers through Nicole’s hair, her favorite thing to do when they kissed and held her tightly to her. 

Nicole was shocked, but thankful. She was going to be beating herself up for this for a long time, but Waverly didn’t ask her to stay the night either, and they were at her house. It would be weird if she had asked her to pack a bag and come with her, right? This kiss would have to do, so Nicole threw all of her emotions into it. She spun and pushed Waverly back gently against the car, never breaking the contact in their lips. 

Waverly moaned gently when her back hit the car, it hadn’t hurt at all, but the move had surprised her a little bit. Nicole’s hands pushed up under Waverly’s crop top and rested on her rib cage. Waverly untangled her fingers gently from Nicole’s hair, found the bottom of the back of her shirt and slid her hands up her back. 

Nicole kissed her harder, her tongue flicking across Waverly’s expertly causing the girl to moan gently and pull her short nails down the length of Nicole’s back. Nicole gasped. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hurt you did I?” Waverly asked, her eyes flying open at the sound. 

“No, no, you didn’t! Not at all, the opposite, actually. I ummm… I should go, Waves. I really don’t want to rush you into something you’re not ready for. I’m glad that we’re taking it slowly, and I don’t want to mess that up. So, I really… I really should go.” Nicole smiled softly and kissed Waverly gently again, removing her hands from under Waverly’s shirt. Waverly did the same. 

Waverly was thankful Nicole didn’t want to rush her. She would have to figure out how to communicate that she was ready to try more, but she had already pretty much established that she was too much of a chicken to say it tonight. “Okay. I’ll ummm… See you tomorrow night?” Waverly bit her bottom lip nervously, feeling like she had down something terribly wrong. 

“Absolutely.” Nicole kissed her again ever so gently and then placed a quick kiss to her forehead, before stepping back so Waverly could remove herself from the door. “Good night, Waves. Have sweet dreams.” Nicole winked, some of her cockiness returning. 

“Good night, Nicole.” Waverly said before walking back to her front porch. 

After Nicole’s cruiser had disappeared from sight, Waverly walked back into the house and immediately told Wynonna everything that just happened. 

“You didn’t ruin it, Waves.” Wynonna reassured her for the fifth time. “You’re just finally with someone who values you as a person, and she took you not inviting her to stay as you not being ready to sleep with a girl. Waves, I promise that’s not a bad thing, that’s a great thing. I like her more for it.” 

“It’s really not bad?” Waverly asked her face buried in pillows on the couch. 

“It’s really not bad.” 

“Ugh. I’m such an idiot, I should have asked her to stay.” Waverly sighed, though this time, instead of burying her face deeper, she stood up. “I’m going to go to bed.” 

Waverly shut her bedroom door and sighed, resting her forehead against the back of the door. When she spun around she noticed a dark article of clothing crumpled on her floor. When she picked it up she realized that it was a tightly rolled t-shirt. It was maroon with white lettering, it looked like a practice jersey. The back of the shirt said Haught, and there was a big number sixteen. The front said: Texas A&M across the chest. 

She thought back to their second date when Nicole said she had gone to school on a soccer scholarship. Waverly didn’t know much about college soccer, but she knew that A&M was a pretty big school in Texas, she quickly flipped open her laptop and googled them. They were consistently ranked in the top twenty soccer programs in the nation. 

Waverly bit her lip, she didn’t want to creep too hard, but she did kind of really want to see Nicole in a soccer jersey. Since she was already on A&M’s site, it couldn’t hurt to just try searching Nicole’s name, right? She clicked search. 

Sure enough, Nicole’s player profile popped up. She had played all four years she was in school and had, what appeared to Waverly, to be very impressive stats. She had been a center midfielder and had scored thirteen goals gotten ten yellow cards and one red. Waverly wasn’t entirely sure what the cards meant, but she looked forward to asking Nicole later. She decided that was enough internet stalking for one day and turned off her lap top. 

She looked at the practice jersey, now folded neatly on her desk. A mischievous grin spread across her face. She switched out of the skin tight jeans she had on into a pair of black soffe shorts she liked to sleep in. Then, before she could talk herself out of it, she pulled off her shirt and bra and pulled on Nicole’s soccer shirt. Just then her phone buzzed, making her jump about a foot and a half. 

Nicole <3: Hey, Waves! Just wanted to let you know that I made it home safe. Calamity says hi! 

Attached was a photo of Nicole in a baggy t-shirt and boxers holding Calamity Jane. In bed. Waverly’s mouth went completely dry. Nicole had a beautiful dark wooden headboard. There was a large canvas painting hanging over it, but Waverly could only see the bottom sliver of it. But more importantly, it was a photo of Nicole. In her pajamas, boxers to be exact, in bed. 

Waverly looked down at Nicole’s shirt, a size too big for her, and incredibly comfortable. She crawled into her own bed and pulled down the covers, and slid into them. She held up her own phone and snapped a few selfies. She was actually pleased with one of them, so she sent it in response. 

Waves :): Glad you made it! Hello, Calamity. Oh, by the way… I think you forgot a shirt. ;) 

Nicole’s heart completely forgot it’s primary function. Waverly Earp was wearing her college soccer shirt. Her shirt with her name and number emblazoned on the back. 

Waverly was starting to panic. Nicole hadn’t responded to her text and had been almost five minutes. What if she shouldn’t have this shirt on? What if she had just made Nicole mad? 

Waves :): Sorry, I can take it off if you want, I hope it’s not weird I put it on. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t help myself. 

Nicole read Waverly’s new text and immediately started typing. 

Nicole <3: No no no… sorry. I uhhhh… I’m a fan of you in my shirt. Nicole <3: Please, keep wearing it. :) 

Waverly’s face went from nervous to the biggest smile of her life. She relaxed under her covers. She switched her camera to video and filmed a quick clip of her blowing a kiss and sent it to Nicole. 

Nicole was starting to wonder if she should buy a heart monitor. She was a little disappointed in herself for not inviting Waverly to come back with her, but a video of Waverly blowing her a kiss while wearing her old soccer shirt reversed her mood entirely. Nicole picked up her phone, smiled, and called Waverly. 

Before the first ring finished sounding Waverly picked up the phone, “Hey, Nicole! So, this shirt is really comfortable.” 

Nicole laughed, “It looks nice on you.” 

“What’s up?” 

“Nothing….” Nicole paused, she hadn’t thought of a reason to call. She just wanted to talk to Waverly more. 

Waverly smiled, just happy Nicole called, and she thought she had ruined it. “What are you up to?” 

“Oh you know, lying down, thinking of this amazing woman I know.” 

Waverly could feel Nicole’s cocky smile through the phone, “Oh yeah?” She giggled. She was a goner when Nicole turned on the charm. She knew if she talked too much she’d end up stumbling on her words and Nicole wasn’t even there. Waverly bit her lip and decided it should be easier to be brazen over the phone, right? She cleared her throat, “and what exactly were your thoughts?” 

That took Nicole back a bit, but honesty won out over the option of taking it… there. “Well, actually I was thinking about how much I feel like a teenager again. With all these crazy butterflies and the fact that the second I’m not with you I just want to see you again.” Nicole heard Waverly’s majestic giggle again. “I don’t know, I feel silly, carefree… I’m embarrassing myself.” 

“No, you’re really not!” Waverly paused, “I’ve just… well this is the first time I’ve ever felt these things. So, I don’t feel like a teenager. I feel like a spastic semi-adult. So… what happens next? Do we stay on the phone until we fall asleep?” 

Nicole had no clue how she was supposed to fall asleep with all of these feelings pulsing through her, “Sure, I’m in.” 

Waverly seriously doubted she was going to sleep at all that night, wrapped in Nicole’s scent and knowing that in a way, even if it wasn’t completely the way Waverly had wanted, Nicole was going to be with her that night. She reached up and hit the light switch and scooted down in bed, “Good night, Nicole.” 

“Good night, Waves.” 

With a few giggles here there and several extra whispered good nights, the two women drifted off into a very cozy sleep. 

***

The next night as Shorty’s was getting ready to close, Waverly sent Nicole a quick text message. 

Waves :): Hey, I can’t wait to see you tonight. ;) 

They had texted all day and Waverly had promised herself that tonight was the night. She was going to invite Nicole to spend the night tonight and she was going to do it as soon as Nicole picked her up, so if she wanted to go grab a change of clothes on the way she could. Or, if she wanted, they could stay at her place instead to have more privacy. Waverly didn’t care either way, tonight was the night she was going to have the courage to ask. 

Wynonna and Dolls walked through the front door of Shorty’s. “Waves, we need your help. Let’s go.” 

“No. No. Guys, not tonight.” 

Wynonna eyed the bar and the last two customers, “Waverly…” she urged, “it’s kind of official duty. Your official duty. My mascot threat still stands, you know.” 

Dolls was already headed to Gus’s back office to tell her that she was going to have to cover for Waverly for the rest of the night, Purgatory needed saving. 

Waverly sighed and picked up her phone. 

Nicole <3: Me too. I’ve been impatiently counting the time since I got here. ;) 

Waverly groaned. Gus emerged from her back office, “sorry, Gus.” 

“It’s okay, darling. I know it wasn’t what you had on your mind for your evening.” Gus grinned. 

Waverly blushed from head to toe. How did Gus read her so easily? She shook it off, “all that’s left is sweeping and that back table. Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” 

“Yeah, it’s just thirty minutes to close. I can get the sweeping done in the meantime.” 

Wynonna and Dolls stormed through the station, headed straight for the black badge office, but Waverly headed straight for Nicole’s desk. Nicole looked up, a smile spread across her face until she saw the frustrated look in Waverly’s eyes. 

“Waves? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” 

“Physically? I guess. I ummm… you know how I do contract research for black badge because of my knowledge of history specifically pertaining to this area and my degree which kind of specializes in dead languages?” 

“Yeah, we talked about that at the coffee shop. Why?” 

“I just got called in.” 

“Okay… oh shit, you’re now working later and I’m off in ten minutes.” 

“Yep.” Waverly was visibly pissed. 

Nicole smiled softly, disappointed, but rather pleased that Waverly looked so annoyed about it. “Well, maybe you can make it up to me by coming over as soon as you wake up tomorrow and gracing me with your presence for brunch. You can just text me when you get home tonight, or I guess this morning, and tell me when you’re going to come by so I can have the coffee ready?” 

Waverly’s smile crept up at the corners of her lips. “That sounds good.” 

Nicole did a quick glance around the room for Waverly’s sake before pressing a quick kiss to her lips. “Okay, I’ll text you.” She said with a wink as Waverly left the room. As soon as Waverly had shut the door to Black Badge Division, Nicole sighed heavily. “Dammit.” She had really hoped tonight was going to be the night. Hailey was going to be there tomorrow and she wasn’t going to get a chance to stay with Waverly for the whole weekend. 

She didn’t do much work for the last ten minutes of her shift. She really just arranged and rearranged the papers on her desk. As soon as Deputy Sheriff Grant arrived, she was up and out the door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hailey comes to visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, a billion apologies that is has taken me so long. Second, this is a two part finale! Chapter Five (part one) is really what wraps up the story. So mom, please let this be your last chapter for this story ;) Part two... well part two is going to make me bump up the rating. Y'all asked for it, and have been so patient and kind, I thought you deserved it hehe. Third, thank you all so soooo much for the nice things you've said about the story and my writing. This whole thing has spurred my desire to write all over again and I can't thank you enough. Fourth, a big shoutout to my lovely girlfriend for her help in finishing this chapter.

Waverly looked down at her phone, it was almost seven-thirty in the morning. She sighed heavily, she was still in Black Badge Division’s office. Wynonna had gone to sleep on the couch hours ago, but she and Dolls were still at it. They had figured out who the two revenants were that were responsible for a recent string of attacks, but more importantly, Waverly was getting really close to figuring out where their hide-out was. Waverly had wanted to get in and out and get some sleep so she could go over to Nicole’s around ten this morning. As it was, she was just hoping to have finished her job by then. 

“Alright, Little Earp, why don’t y’all go on home. We can finish this up tomorrow. You look like a zombie and your sister has been here for almost twenty four hours.”

Waverly went into panic mode. “No. No. I… respectfully refuse. I’m going to figure this out and then I’m off for the weekend. Remember?”

Dolls sighed, honestly he hadn’t been much help for the past two hours. He just didn’t know the area like the younger Earp did. He knew she was still making progress though, not at a standstill. “What can I do to help?” 

***

Waverly walked out the front door of the Sheriff’s department at ten-eighteen. She had been awake around twenty-three hours, during which, she had worked a bar shift and helped find the killers of three locals. The sun was shining and starting to heat up the day. She knew it wasn’t going to be a scorcher, the temperatures were already starting to drop indicating fall was on it’s way. That helped push a little current of excitement through her, but mostly she wanted to sleep. What on Earth was she going to tell Nicole? She was still going to look like a zombie when Hailey and her husband arrived.  


Waverly crawled into the driver’s seat of her red Jeep and laid her head back against the seat. She was contemplating a nap when her phone started ringing. It was Nicole, “Hey.” She said, trying to muster up all of the energy that she had left.  


“Hey, Waves. Are you still at the station?”  


“Technically. I’ve made it to the parking lot. I’m contemplating taking a nap before trying to drive home.” She chuckled wearily.  


“Well…” There was a long pause. Nicole was clearly thinking about something. “I was going to offer to bring you some coffee, but if you’re done with work and thinking about napping in your Jeep…” There was another pause. Waverly was too tired to even begin to try to help Nicole get out whatever it was she was trying to say. “I mean, if you want, you’d be more than welcome to, just so you wouldn’t have to drive all the way out to the homestead, you could, maybe, come nap here? It’s just that I’m so close to the station, you could-”  


“-Are you serious?” Waverly interrupted. She was so exhausted she wasn’t thinking about anything other than the chance to sleep.  


“Well, yeah. I mean, if you want.”  


“Yes. Oh my god, that would be totally amazeballs! I’ll be there in like, three minutes.” Waverly threw her keys into ignition and pulled out of the parking lot.  


As soon as she pulled onto the road, she realized what she had just gotten herself into. She was going to nap at Nicole’s?! Where? Her couch? Surely not the guest bedroom, that would just make more work for getting ready for Hailey. Waverly’s mouth went completely dry. She thought of the selfie Nicole had sent and the dark wooden headboard and the large painting above her bed. What if Nicole said she could nap in her room, in her bed? Waverly didn’t have too much time to worry about it, because at that point, she was already pulling into Nicole’s apartment parking lot.  


Waverly had two options, pass out in her car in Nicole’s parking lot or head up to her apartment and hope she doesn’t do something embarrassing or weird out of exhaustion. “You can do this Earp, keep your shit together.” She said to herself before getting out of her Jeep and heading to the door. She knocked a few times and waited, fidgeting nervously.  


Nicole opened the door wearing a cozy looking dark blue, deep v-necked sweater and lightly colored blue jeans. She smiled nervously at a clearly very tired Waverly, “Hey, Waves, come on in.”  


As soon as the door shut, Waverly wrapped her arms around the taller woman’s waist and rested her head on her shoulder. Waverly immediately felt her nervous energy leave her, all of her energy leave her, really. Every time Nicole wrapped her arms around her she felt safe, so even though her brain was still flying through possible nap scenarios, she felt surprisingly calm. “Thanks for letting me come take a nap. I honestly think this is sleepiest I have ever been.”  


“Thanks for coming and not trying to drive all the way home.” Nicole kissed the top of Waverly’s head. “Come on, you can nap in my room.” She let go of Waverly and stepped back, taking her hand and leading her down the hall.  


Waverly had never been past the first door on the right, which was a little half bath. Nicole lead her down to the end and into the door to the left. There was another door to the right which was wide open. Waverly could see from just her brief peek a well decorated office, with a futon that been pulled flat and made up into bed form. Waverly smiled to herself at the fact that Nicole had a futon. She wasn’t sure why she found that amusing, but seeing as she was delusional she was so tired, she told herself to wait until next time before commenting.  


Nicole opened the door to the left and lead Waverly in, “So… ummm… this is my room.”  


Waverly took in the space. It was almost like seeing a different side of Nicole. Three of the walls were a deep grey, the fourth, the wall her bed was on, was a dark navy blue. Her bed was a deep chocolate wood, and the painting hanging above it was a ginormous art piece of an Astronaut on a planet looking down into an abyss. Her dresser was a matching brown and the walls were well decorated with framed photos and funky art.  


Waverly was unknowingly beaming. She was taking it all in, the bookcase filled with books, the beautiful bed with its puffy dark blue, white, and dark grey striped comforter and it’s dark grey sheets which was straightened, but not made. Waverly loved it, she loved the entire room, it looked like Nicole, a little elegant but not too flashy, cozy and inviting, a little quirky, and completely warm and put together.  


Nicole was watching Waverly assess her room, nervously. She tried to look everywhere Waverly was looking to make sure it looked right. “Thoughts? I’m not really sure if it’s done yet.”  


Waverly turned to look at her and smiled, “I think it’s awesome. It’s really lovely, I’m going to have to check out your bookcase later.”  


Nicole laughed, “yeah, but first let’s get you to sleep. Oh, here, let me get you something to change into.” She started to dig through her dresser. Waverly stared at the bed longingly. She sat down on a corner. It took all of two seconds before she laid down and propped her head up on her hand, trying her best to stay awake. She felt her eyelids pull shut, and her head fall to meet the bed.  


After finding a sleep shirt she thought would be suitable for the smaller woman, Nicole spun around. Waverly was fast asleep, curled up across the foot of her bed. Nicole smiled, deep and dimpled.  


She moved around the bed and untied the laces of the boots Waverly had on and pulled them down off her feet. She sat them neatly on the ground with the toes tucked under the bed next to her standard issue Deputy boots. Nicole’s heart beat faster at the simple thought of Waverly’s boots resting there next to hers more often.  


She pulled the top of the comforter down, folding it down, covering Waverly. Nicole tucked a loose strand of hair behind the younger woman’s ear. The taller woman padded out of the room as quietly as possible, leaving the door cracked open a sliver in case Waverly woke up and needed something. As she put the finishing touches on the living room, Nicole had an idea. She quickly pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and sent Wynonna a message.

***

Wynonna was more than happy to help Nicole today, for several reasons. First, Waverly had come home from her second date with this woman and professed her love. Second, Wynonna genuinely liked Nicole, even if the redhead hadn’t been sweeping her younger sister completely off her feet, she was really smart and funny and easy to get along with. She could hold her drink and, according to Dolls, who worked out with her once at the station, had a mean left hook. And third, if Nicole’s plan would keep Waverly out of the house all day, Wynonna could drink and potentially hook up with Doc.  


Wynonna tore through the homestead trying to remember where Waverly had put everything. At that moment, she was incredibly thankful her sister was a compulsive planner and perfectionist. Last night, she had seen her younger sister pack up all the food she was going to need to cook for Officer Haughtsuff’s sister and brother-in-law, organize it in a big bag and put it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. But Wynonna couldn’t find the small bag of clothes she knew Waverly had put together.  


She ran upstairs to Waverly’s room, but didn’t see it, then she checked the small upstairs bathroom Waverly used. There it was, Waverly’s neatly packed bag. With a mischievous smile and a raised eyebrow, Wynonna opened the bag to see what Waverly had packed. She saw sweatpants, a plain t-shirt, and her apron to cook in and her khaki skirt and dark green button down to wear for dinner. That was smart, Wynonna thought, wear something cute but not sexy in front of the family. Wynonna began to zip the bag closed when she saw what underwear Waverly had picked. “Oh baby girl, you are never getting laid in those,” she muttered to herself before heading back to Waverly’s room. She opened her little sister’s underwear drawer. “She’s either going to kill me or thank me for this, and honestly both would ruin my day.”  


She riffled through until she found a black lace thong and a black lace bra to match. The older sister in her cringed, but she was also pretty proud that perfect, brilliant, goofy Waverly was at least related to her enough to own a good set of sexy underwear. Wynonna giggled as she switched out the underwear in Waverly’s bag.  


She threw all of Waverly’s bathroom stuff in a different bag so she could shower before the sister got there and she threw a couple of books she had seen Waverly reading in case she wanted to make it look like she stayed there more often. When she had everything together, she loaded the bags into the cab of Gus’s farm truck she’s been borrowing and took off towards the address Nicole had texted her when they got off the phone earlier. 

***

Nicole opened the door and stepped back to let Wynonna inside. Wynonna observed things far differently than her younger sister, Nicole noticed. Waverly took things in with wonder, searching for details, observing every inch as if she was going to have to write a ten page paper on everything she saw. Wynonna, on the other hand, cased the place. She did quick, calculated once overs. It had been interesting, to say the least, getting to know the Earp sisters, and Nicole looked forward to getting to know them better.  


“Alrighty, Haughtstuff, everything you asked for.” Wynonna said, setting the bags down on Nichole’s living room floor. “That pink gigantic lunch box was in our fridge, so maybe we should put it in yours.”  


“Yeah, sure. It’s right through here.” Nicole lead Wynonna into her small kitchen, “thanks for doing this. I just didn’t want Waverly to panic and have to run home to get her stuff when she wakes up.”  


“Happy to help the cause.” Wynonna handed over the pink bag and Nicole squeezed it onto a shelf. “It’s a nice place you’ve got here. I’m sure Waves appreciates that.” Wynonna didn’t really know how to socialize. She had been considered a pariah for more than half of her life. So, having Nicole offering her a friendly smile kind of threw her.  


“You want a beer before you go? As an officer of the law, I can only allow you one, but I’ve got plenty if you want one.”  


Wynonna smiled a real smile at the officer. Champ wouldn’t have even let her inside, let alone asked her to hang out. And if he did, it probably would have been to try to have sex with her while Waverly was in the other room. And here this girl was, in a decent apartment that she could afford herself, asking her kind-of-sort- of-girlfriend’s sister to stay to have a beer to get to know each other better. Waverly was a goner for sure. “I really appreciate the offer, Haughtpants, and I promise I will take you up on it at another time, but I’ve got a cowboy and a bottle of whiskey waiting for me back at my place.” Wynonna winked.  


Nicole just laughed, pleased at how sincere Wynonna looked about taking her up on the offer at some point. She nodded, “okay, sounds good.”  


Wynonna lead herself back to the door, Nicole followed to lock it behind her.  


“Hey, Earp? Should I wake her up before I go? Or leave a note?” Nicole looked nervous.  


Wynonna laughed, “you can try to wake her up, but I saw how tired she was when she left the station this morning, I’d just let her sleep. She might swear at you in a whole bunch of languages if you try to wake her up before she’s ready.”  


Nicole chuckled at the thought, “cool, thanks.”  


Wynonna nodded at the young deputy and headed out the door.

***

Waverly woke up to the smell of Nicole. She buried her face in the blanket she was wrapped in like a burrito and inhaled as deeply as she could. That was the first sleep she had gotten in a long time without having a nightmare. She opened her eyes to Nicole’s very cave like room. The bedside clock read three-thirty. Damn, she thought, she just took a nap for longer than she slept most nights. She still felt hungover, but at least she had stopped being delusional.  


She stretched a little, not wanting to leave the comfort of Nicole’s bed. She bit back a smile. She woke up with her head on a pillow and with her shoes off. She pictured her dimpled officer very carefully trying to sneak a pillow under her head. The thought made her heart beat faster. Calamity Jane, Nicole’s adorable cat, had even curled up next to her and was purring at her stiff movements.  


Waverly knew she should get up, she was going to have to drive all the way out to the homestead, shower, load up, come back, and then cook. Hopefully, Nicole would have gathered by her very smooth passing out at the foot of the older woman’s bed that dinner might be ready a little late tonight. Waverly sighed and shimmied her way down off the bed. It was when she spread Nicole’s comforter back out that she notice a piece of paper folded in half with her name written neatly across the side facing her.  


“I didn’t want to wake you. You’re kind of an adorably feisty sleeper, remind me to ask you what you called me when I put the pillow under your head.” Waverly blushed but kept reading, “Wynonna brought over everything we could think of that you might need, it’s all in the living room. Feel free to shower, or do anything you’d like really.” The note ended with a heart.  


A smile was etched into Waverly’s face. She’d never woken up to a note before. She couldn’t believe how absolutely everything was different with Nicole, not just her gender, but everything. Different, and so much better. For the first time in her life, Waverly felt truly taken care of and all she had needed was a nap.  


The young woman made her way to the living room and gathered up her bags. She carried them all into Nicole’s room and immediately began digging through them. Everything that she packed appeared to be there, with the addition of bathroom stuff. She’d have to buy Wynonna some whiskey as a thanks.  


She decided to start with cooking. She was going to make crockpot lasagna, chicken parmesan, and garlic bread. It wasn’t fancy, but it was one of her favorite meals and everyone who had tried it said it was great.  


Waverly quickly went to work and found time flying by. Her lasagna was on and her chicken parmesan was in the oven, but it was already four-forty-five. Nicole and her sister and her brother-in-law would be there in about fifteen minutes.  


“Shiiiit.” Waverly exclaimed and took off for Nicole’s shower. She threw her bag of toiletries and her bag of clothes in the bathroom, and turned on the water in the shower. Steam started pouring over the top of the frosted glass shower door while Waverly stripped and started searching for the towels.  


She found the linen closet, and couldn’t help but notice Nicole organized her towels by color. She giggled, and wondered which was Nicole’s favorite. But she didn’t have too much time to get lost in the image of Nicole wrapped in a bath towel, so she grabbed the two off the top and hooked them up next to the shower. She grabbed her shampoo, conditioner, and body wash and stepped into scalding hot water.  


Waverly turned the heat down just the tiniest bit, but honestly, she relished in the heat. She hadn’t taken a hot enough shower since moving back into the homestead, so this felt like heaven. She relaxed under the hot water and wondered how long into their relationship did she need to be to ask if she could shower here all the time. She smiled at the thought. She worked her shampoo into her hair and couldn’t help but imagine Nicole doing it for her. She felt her body heat up, and it wasn’t from the scorching water.  


Nicole opened the front door of her apartment to an absolutely wonderful aroma, she smiled and lead Hailey and her husband, Tom, into her apartment. “So this is my apartment….” She heard water running and knew Waverly must be in the shower. “It sounds like Waves is in the shower, but come on in, we can get you all set up in my office.”  


“Aw ‘Cole, it’s super cute.” Hailey said sincerely. She and Tom followed as Nicole lead them down the hall, carrying some of their bags.  


“This is a little half bath,” She nodded her head as she passed the first door on the right, “it’s kind of a weird setup, this is technically a one bedroom with a study, so the only full bath is through my room. But, it’s cozy. Calamity really likes all the windows here.”  


“I think it’s great. Do you need to go ask Waverly if we need to do anything about the food?”  


Nicole froze, Waverly was taking a shower, it’s not like she could just go in there and ask. They hadn’t gotten to see each other naked yet, but Hailey didn’t know that, and by modern relationship standards they should have totally seen each other naked by now. “Umm… yeah, I’ll go ask.”  


She knocked on the bathroom door softly, “Hey Waves, we’re back.”  


“Shit.” Waverly whispered, she thought for a second, if they were back, Hailey and her husband were there and she couldn’t very well leave Nicole standing outside the bathroom if they had been together for over a month. Or could she say sorry for locking the door, she panicked, “Ummm… you can come in, I think, unless I locked the door.”  


Nicole exhaled nervously and entered, not looking anywhere near her frosted glass shower door. While the door would hide the details, it would still reveal a lot, and that wasn’t at all fair to Waverly. “I just uhhh… wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help with dinner, so that you could do your thing uninterrupted in here.”  


Waverly smiled and pushed the door open so she could pop her head around to see Nicole. Waverly started to giggle when she saw Nicole staring at her feet, facing away from the shower.  


“Why are you giggling?” Nicole asked, nervously.  


“Because you’re adorable and chivalrous. I’ve steamed up the glass enough, you can turn around.”  


Nicole turned slowly, and looked up blushing. Waverly’s face was tilted around the glass, her hair was dripping wet, and it was the most beautiful Nicole had ever seen her. The tall redhead swallowed nervously. “Adorable, huh?”  


Waverly bit her bottom lip and nodded, “very. But yes, to answer your question, it would be pretty amazing if you could pull the chicken out when the timer dings and if you could put the garlic bread in then. It’s all ready to go, you just have to put it in and set the timer for fifteen minutes.”  


Nicole smiled her charming dimpled smile, “okay, I can do that.”  


“Hey, thanks by the way, for having Wynonna bring the stuff. That was pretty awesome. I slept so hard.”  


“Yeah, I told Hailey and Tom that you were busy being a town hero all night. They totally understand.”  


“Nicole?”  


“What?”  


They were both grinning like idiots. “Would it be asking too much to ask for a kiss right now? I don’t want to cross any lines, but I… well, I’d like to kiss you.” Waverly blushed, but didn’t look away.  


Nicole took the few steps that were separating them and captured Waverly’s lips with her own. The kiss was deep and intense from the start, leaving both women wondering if it was because Waverly was naked, they were supposed to hang out the night before and had each wanted to escalate things physically then, or both. But regardless, this kiss was firey from the start. Waverly bit Nicole’s bottom lip causing a moan to escape her lips.  


“Shit, your sister is here!” Waverly exclaimed breaking them from a rather intense moment.  


Nicole’s eyes widened. “I uhhh… damn, I really should get out there.” Her eyes flashed back to Waverly’s lips, she licked her own in response to the sight of the younger woman’s swollen, passion red lips.  


“I’ll be done in just a second. Is it okay if my hair’s a little damp?”  


Nicole laughed, “of course.” Nicole looked at Waverly’s mouth again, clearly trying to decide if she should kiss her again. Her cocky smile smirked across her face. There was something sexy about Nicole’s charming confidence that Waverly couldn’t resist.  


Nicole’s eyes caught Waverly’s and she was genuinely surprised at the desire she found in them. She knew Waverly liked her, but she had never seen her pupils blown out, the blue drop to a deep grey, the look was intoxicating. She leaned forward for the briefest of kisses. “Okay, see you in a second.” With that Nicole sauntered out of the room.  


Waverly leaned back against the wall of the shower feeling shaky. She couldn’t get over the way that Nicole affected her. She rinsed the last bit of conditioner out of her hair daydreaming about how wonderful it’s going to be when they take things farther.  


The small woman stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her hair and another just under her arms. Thankfully, Wynonna had remembered her makeup bag and she quickly made herself presentable. She riffled through her clothes bag looking for the underwear she packed but only finding a black lace bra and her black lace thong. She had never actually worn these, she had gotten them the day she broke up with Champ to help make herself feel sexy and worth more. “WYNONNA. UGH.”  


She could either wear them, go without underwear, or put back on what she had worn for roughly thirty hours. She sighed and slid the thong up her legs and strapped the bra around her back. 

***

Hailey was still ribbing Nicole for taking so long to ask Waverly what to do about the food, when Waverly emerged from the bedroom. Hailey raised an eyebrow of approval causing Nicole to spin around to see what she was looking at. Nicole’s face immediately melted into a deeply dimpled smile. She loved that outfit, the green of the shirt made Waverly’s eyes green, and the skirt… well the skirt clung to all the right places.  


Waverly blushed a little at the look on Nicole’s face as she approached. “Ummm… Hailey this is my… girlfriend, Waverly.” Nicole’s smile deepened, “Waves, this is my little sister, Hailey.”  


“It’s really nice to meet you!” Waverly said, with her trademark smile.  


Hailey wrapped Waverly up in a hug, “sorry, we’re huggers, and I’m just so excited to meet you! Nicole has told me so much about you.”  


Waverly beamed, “Oh, really?”  


Nicole was blushing, she had gushed about Waverly before asking her to be her fake girlfriend and now that she was actually dating her, she was more than a little worried her sister would out that fact. She was really worried about another abs and honey comment to be revealed.  


Hailey giggled at how red Nicole had gotten, “calm down, ‘Cole, I won’t embarrass you too much… yet. I do have until Sunday though, so we’ll see.”  


Waverly raised an eyebrow about Nicole being called ‘Cole. She wondered if she had always been ‘Cole. She’d considered Nicki before, but Nicole hadn’t had the personality of a Nicki, ‘Cole fit more. She liked how the sisters interacted, it was easy, comfortable, and Hailey was similar enough to Nicole that Waverly stopped being so nervous. Waverly wondered if it was as easy to tell that she and Wynonna were sisters as it was the Haught girls. They had the same striking red hair, the same cheekbones, but Hailey had swapped dimples for piercing blue eyes. It made Waverly want to see a full family photo to see who got what from whom.  


Waverly was glad she had packed her boots but wished now that they were heeled, Hailey was about an inch taller than Nicole even, and towered above Waverly. “Where’s Tom?” The youngest Earp asked, currently saving Nicole from impending embarrassment.  


Hailey smiled, “He’s taking a nap, he’s had a long week at work. One of the many reasons we’re both glad to be here. It smells amazing in here, by the way, I already told Nicole how lucky it is that you’re also a good cook. Tom burns everything.” She laughed.  


Even this was new to Waverly, the friendly banter with Nicole’s sister, she never once had that with Champ’s family, and here she was comfortably making small talk. Nicole hadn’t exaggerated at all when she had described her sister as lovely. She glanced at her beautiful officer and smiled to find Nicole was already looking endearingly at her.  


The timer dinged on Nicole’s oven signaling that the Garlic bread was done. Waverly checked the lasagna, and pleased with the results, declared that dinner was fit to be served. Hailey went off down the hall to get Tom.  


“You weren’t kidding, she’s awesome.” Waverly whispered.  


Nicole beamed, “and you’re awesome. Thanks again for doing this.”  


Waverly wrapped her arms around Nicole’s waist and rested her head on her chest, Nicole kissed her forehead. “No, thank you for inviting me.” Waverly mumbled into the crook of Nicole’s neck.  


They heard the door click, Waverly automatically moved to pull away, but Nicole tucked the smaller woman comfortably under her shoulder. Hailey lead her husband, Tom down the hallway. Tom was tall and thin and looked like the world’s ultimate hipster. “You must be Waverly.”  


Waverly extended her right hand to him, leaving her left wrapped around Nicole’s back. “I am, it’s nice to meet you Tom.” Waverly had her signature, smile and wave, in full force. Genuinely happy to be meeting Nicole’s family. 

***

As a group, they had completely demolished the dinner, hearing all about Hailey’s job as a junior partner at a law firm and Tom’s job as an Austin, Texas daily news anchor. Nicole’s hand rested on Waverly’s upper thigh, the younger woman had tensed at its presence at first, made nervous by Nicole’s casual notions of intimacy in front of her sister. Not because she minded, Nicole’s hand on her upper thigh was actually sending a pulse of heat through her center, but because everything was still so new to her and to Nicole’s family.  


When they had finished eating, the younger woman had covered Nicole’s hand with her own, rubbing the back of it with her thumb. Waverly noticed the corners of Nicole’s mouth twitch upwards, the redhead squeezed her thigh ever so slightly making Waverly stutter in the middle of a sentence. Fortunately, Hailey and Tom didn’t seem to mind at all, Waverly had completely charmed them. Nicole couldn’t stop beaming at the tiny woman next to her, she was smart and funny and charismatic and could keep up with her sister and brother-in-law with her wit and knowledge of the world around them. The tall redhead knew her dimples would be permanent after tonight.  


Even when the conversation had shifted into awkward child Nicole stories, the officer couldn’t help but smile and laugh. “So why do you call her ‘Cole?” Waverly had asked about halfway through dinner.  


Nicole had reddened darker than her hair, but even then a dimple peaked through. Hailey cracked up, “Awww ‘Cole, you haven’t told her?”  


Nicole shook her head, clearly embarrassed by something from long ago. “You can, if you’d like. I was six, and I think it was pretty brilliant.”  


Hailey laughed triumphantly, “Nicole really struggled with N’s, M’s, V’s, and W’s as a child. She never knew where to stop them. So N-icole, was quite an issue when you have to be able to spell your name in the first grade.”  


Waverly’s mouth fell open, she had never heard of anything so adorable in her life. She pictured a teeny-tiny fire haired Nicole, with her tongue out in concentration, trying to figure out where to end the letter. She looked at Nicole endearingly. The older woman just shrugged and laughed.  


“Sooooo,” Hailey continued, “Nicole had heard that if, by the final reading ‘test’ of first grade, a student still couldn’t spell their name, they’d fail. And my brilliant sister here, about three weeks before the test, in a panic, announced to the entire class that she’d prefer to go by ‘Cole. Afraid that she’d be caught in her lie, she made me agree to call her that from now on too, so when I saw her at school, I’d yell ‘Hey ‘Cole,’ and everyone would believe her. And somehow, even in the first grade, she was able to dimple and charm her way through.”  


Waverly laughed and squeezed Nicole’s hand, still resting on her upper thigh. Nicole nervously looked at her through her eyelashes, worried that the smartest person she had ever met would judge her six year old self. Instead, the young woman’s eyes were filled with warmth and happiness. “That’s absolutely precious and you’re right, it was brilliant.” Waverly said, their eyes locked. “What else can I know about Officer Haught, here?”  


“Ummm… what about the time she fell out of the tree and knocked her front teeth out? And she was way too young to lose her front teeth, so they didn’t grow back in for like two years.” Hailey was clearly trying to recall more.  


Nicole just laughed, she didn’t mind. She could tell that this was a big moment for her sister, and honestly it was for her too. She had never been embarrassed in front of a girl she had dated, well not by family, and she knew that Hailey had never gotten this chance either. She laughed and even contributed as story after story came out, all of her most awkward moments told in glorious succession.  


Waverly couldn’t get enough. She had never wanted to learn so much about a living, breathing person. Historical figures, absolutely. But Nicole, well she was something else entirely. Waverly found her fingers wound together with Nicole’s after the first story, then her free hand had moved to rest on the other woman’s forearm, then her foot had moved to touch the taller woman’s foot, like a moth to a flame. The more Waverly learned about Nicole Haught, the more she knew she loved her.  


By one o’clock in the morning, everyone was yawning and laughing, all slightly buzzed from either wine or beer. Hailey finally stood, “alright, I’ve got to go to bed. We’ve got all weekend for more shenanigans. Waverly do you cook breakfast as well as you cook dinner?” She laughed, obviously just complementing Waverly’s cooking ability.  


“Oh.” Waverly blushed, “I ummm… didn’t pack anything to spend the night.” Waverly’s heartbeat had gone from zero to sixty in roughly point-two seconds.  


“Oh sure, like ‘Officer Haught’ over here is going to let her perfect girlfriend drive home after a drop of alcohol, let alone several beers.” Hailey said.  


Nicole swallowed nervously, not knowing what to do. Hailey was right, she didn’t want Waverly to drive home, actually she just didn’t want Waverly to leave period, but she really didn’t want her to drive home.  


Waverly glanced awkwardly at Nicole, she didn’t want to go home. She wasn’t lying, she didn’t have pajamas or clothes for the next day, but Nicole’s fingers had been ghosting along her thigh for hours, and with every drink the tracing had aroused her all the more. At the same time, she didn’t want to make Nicole uncomfortable by accepting an invitation to stay at her place that wasn’t even from her.  


Hailey misread the look awkwardly being exchanged between her older sister and the youngest Earp, “oh Jesus, we know y’all are together, you’re not going to offend us. Seriously, Waverly, you don’t have to leave for our sake. We want you to stay, we came here to meet you and see Nicole here in her natural habitat. I haven’t seen ‘Cole this at ease since high school.” Hailey’s drunken accent was even thicker than Nicole’s. It made Waverly smile, even though she still didn’t know what the appropriate answer was.  


Nicole had stopped breathing and was sure that her skin was as red as her hair. She should have thought this part through. She had just been so pleased with how the evening was going, she hadn’t even thought of it. And now she couldn’t figure out how to invite Waverly to stay on top of her sister already asking for her. She looked at Waves and smiled a shy dimpled smile, hoping to convey her want without scaring Waverly away.  


Waverly smiled as her beautiful… girlfriend, hopefully soon at least, smiled at her. She knew what she wanted, and if she was reading the look in Nicole’s eyes, she knew what the taller woman wanted as well. “Okay, I’m convinced. If you’re really fine with it, then yes, it would be nice to stay.” Waverly giggled, “all of my bathroom stuff is here, I just don’t have pjs.”  


Nicole’s heart was pounding, “I have shorts you can wear. I actually have pair already out for you from when you napped today.” She blushed even deeper.  


“Right, well then, I guess I should go get ready for bed.” Waverly bit her lip and headed off down the hall, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible. She shut the door to Nicole’s bedroom behind her, and exhaled nervously. “You can do this Earp. Seriously, Waves, don’t fuck this up.” She whispered to herself, heading into the bathroom to brush her teeth.  


Nicole had watched the smaller woman sashay down the hall, her mouth was completely dry. She quickly finished her beer before realizing Hailey was watching her. “What?” Nicole asked, afraid she had been busted.  


Hailey smiled a warm smile that Nicole hadn’t seen in years. “Nothing, you just, you truly adore each other. It’s really precious. She’s seriously wonderful.”  


Tom nodded from across the table, “Duuuuude, wife her up.” He was drunk, and drunk Tom had proven to be rather casual and truly hilarious. This was the most time Nicole had gotten to spend with him and she was surprised to be so pleased with him as a person.  


Nicole smiled, elated that they both approved so highly of Waverly. She stood, ready to see the beautiful woman waiting for her just down the hall. “Do y’all need the shower tonight?” Hoping to God they were okay with waiting until the morning.  


“No, we can shower in the morning.”  


“Okay, goodnight sis.” Nicole gave her sister a quick kiss on the cheek, and high fived Tom on her way down the hall. “Oh,” she spun back around, “obviously, if y’all need anything or want anything it’s yours.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter six should be up in a few days. It's already done, I just want to give my mom a chance to read this before it gets bumped up to explicit. Let me know what you think in the comments and, if you want, feel free to tweet at me: @ekhwanders


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the grand finale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it folks, I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think! And you get some wayhaught, and you get some wayhaught, EVERYBODY GETS SOME WAYHAUGHT!!

Nicole opened her bedroom door with her eyes shut, just in case Waverly had found the shorts and was in the middle of changing. “Waves?” She whispered. 

Waverly emerged from the bathroom still fully dressed. She giggled, “you can open your eyes, Nicole.” 

The taller woman opened one eye first, nervously, before opening the other. She giggled, relieving some of her shaky nerves. “I’m so sorry.” 

Waverly looked genuinely confused, “why?” 

“For the way you got asked to stay, I should have asked earlier in the evening. I just didn’t want to make Hailey uncomfortable, and then I was drinking and then she asked, not that she knew it was a big deal to ask, but I’m sorry I didn’t ask first.” The taller woman was now staring at her hands. 

The younger woman’s heart swelled, Nicole had wanted to ask her to stay earlier in the night. She crossed the bedroom in a few steps and lifted Nicole’s face, so that their eyes would meet. She was searching and answering simultaneously, desperately trying to tell the beautiful woman in front of her how she felt. Brown, worried eyes met hers, “the answer is yes, I would love to stay. No matter who or how it was asked, I’d love to stay.” 

Nicole’s eyes lightened immediately, a smile threatened the corners of her lips, “here I pulled out shorts and a shirt for you earlier.” Nicole passed her the shirt. 

Waverly was teetering on the idea of making a move when Nicole presented her with the perfect opportunity. Waverly giggled nervously, “I don’t need shorts… unless you take issue to me sleeping in my underwear?” 

Nicole’s mouth fell open, she immediately darkened to match the red of her hair. “No. I don’t mind at all.” 

Waverly pulled her shirt off over her head, she didn’t really see the point in asking Nicole to leave for her to switch shirts. She did, after all, change in front of her the first time they met. It’s not like Nicole couldn’t recall that image whenever she wanted. She pulled Nicole’s shirt back down over her in it’s place. 

Nicole couldn’t not stare. She wondered if Waverly knew what she was doing to her. Waverly had on a black lace bra that revealed more supple flesh than the yellow one she had been wearing the first time they met, and now Nicole’s shirt. It hung down well past her waist. Nicole was taking in Waverly wearing her clothing in person, when Waverly reached up under the back of the shirt, unhooked her bra, slid the straps off either shoulder, and pulled her bra out from under the hem of the shirt. Nicole licked her lips, feeling her pupils blow completely out with desire. 

The reaction was not lost on Waverly. Her mischievous smiled pulled at her lips, her nervousness somewhat forgotten, replaced with a burning desire. She met Nicole’s gaze, smiling when she found nervous, lust filled eyes meeting her own. 

The younger women slowly and deliberately unhooked and unzipped her khaki skirt, never breaking eye contact with the other woman. She bit her lip when Nicole’s eyes flashed down. Nicole’s eyes flashed back up, a trace of guilt and concern pulled at her eyebrows. 

Waverly lowered her skirt by a fraction of an inch, but waited to continue until Nicole’s determination broke and she looked again. As soon as Nicole’s eyes twitched downward, Waverly slid her skirt lower. Nicole swallowed audibly, not removing her eyes as Waverly lowered the light tan fabric further still. 

Nicole had always wondered why women wore lace thongs, to her they had always been impractical and uncomfortable, but in this moment she knew their exact purpose. Waverly Earp’s “underwear,” was a black lace thong. Her eyes were fixed on Waverly’s practically completely exposed hips and silently thanked whoever the genius was who invented them. 

Waverly stepped out of her skirt, completely satisfied with the expression on Nicole’s face, and pulled the taller woman’s shirt down to cover her rather exposed back side. She owed Wynonna a lifetime supply of donuts for this. Nicole’s eyes slowly made their way back up to meet Waverly’s. 

Waverly was blushing slightly, but her mischievous smile was glued in place. “What side of the bed do you sleep on?” She asked, her voice sounding completely innocent. 

“Umm… I guess here on the left.” Nicole’s voice was higher than normal, Waverly noticed. 

Waverly stalked to the right side of the bed and slid under Nicole’s covers. The bed was silky soft, the now familiar comforter was plush and light, she looked up at Nicole from under her eyelashes. Nicole’s eyes had drifted to Waverly’s ass as she walked, just visible under the hem of her shirt. 

Nicole pulled her favorite sleep shirt out of her drawer and glanced a peek at Waverly. Waverly was watching, unabashedly. Nicole wasn’t embarrassed about her body, she had put in the time and effort to get herself to this point. She might not be as small as Waverly, but her body was solid muscle. She pulled her shirt up and over her head, tightening her abs as she went, making sure her six pack was completely visible. She smiled when she saw Waverly bite her bottom lip and blush. Her cocky nature kicked in, and she pulled her jeans off before putting anything new on. 

Nicole’s boxer briefs clung to her hips below where her v cut inwards, this did two things for her. First, it revealed just exactly how toned she was. And second, it showed off the top of a tattoo on her right hip bone. Waverly’s eyes locked on it, she could also see the bottom of it peeking out on her right, sculpted thigh. 

Waverly could feel her breathing becoming shakier and Nicole wasn't even near her. She swallowed and took a deep breath, she could do this, and more importantly she really wanted to do this. She watched as the redheaded woman pulled her sleep shirt on and slide her bra out through one of her sleeves. Nicole turned her bedside lamp on before turning out her overhead bedroom light. Waverly watched as Nicole confidently walked back across the room. Waverly prayed her heartbeat wasn’t audible. 

Nicole slid in bed next to her, their eyes locking again. Nicole’s dimples sending a rippling wave of desire through the younger woman. Waverly found her voice despite her nerves, “you have a tattoo.” She said, making it very clear that she had fully checked Nicole out as she had changed. 

“Yes, I do.” Nicole said, her charm saturating her voice. 

“What is it?” Waverly asked, her eyebrow raising seductively, daring Nicole to show her. 

Nicole pushed down the covers on her right side, the side further away from Waverly, and tilted her body in towards the smaller woman. She pulled down the elastic band at the top of the briefs and revealed a beautiful, blossoming, black and white lily. Without thinking, Waverly reached out and touched it gently, her thumb tracing over the petals. Nicole body trembled at the soft touch on her exposed hip, she sharply inhaled in surprise. 

Waverly’s eyes shot up to meet the taller woman and she pulled back her hand. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Waverly blushed and looked away, “I wasn’t thinking, sorry. It’s beautiful. Very well done.” 

“Waverly, you’re not making me uncomfortable. I just… I really don’t want you to think that anything has to happen because you’re spending the night. I mean… My sister and her husband are across the hall,” Nicole laughed softly, “this isn’t exactly how I planned this, but I want you to know that I’m glad you’re here.” 

Waverly blushed and looked up to meet Nicole’s burning gaze. How could eyes express so many things all at once? Waverly smiled, “I ummm… I want something to happen. I mean, I could have taken the shorts you offered.” She smiled, somehow managing to look innocent even though she just admitted to planning her black lace underwear reveal. 

Nicole’s heart was pounding, she licked her lips, “okay, well please stop me then if I do something you don’t want me to do.” 

Waverly nodded, nervously, before Nicole leaned in and captured her lips with her own. There was a hunger in Nicole’s kiss that Waverly had never experienced before. Nicole’s tongue traced across the smaller woman’s, parting her lips farther, allowing her to be kissed even deeper. 

Nicole’s hands slid up the back of her own shirt on Waverly’s body, pulling the younger woman tighter to her. She smoothly pulled them both down farther on the bed and situated herself on top of the younger woman. Waverly wrapped her right leg around Nicole’s waist, the taller woman’s strong left hand tracing across Waverly’s bare thigh and squeezing encouragingly at her barely covered hip. 

Waverly gasped, revealing to Nicole the first of her more sensitive spots. The redhead continued the path of her hand, sliding down to Waverly’s ass, gently grazing over the firm exposed skin. Nicole squeezed, Waverly’s legs wrapped tighter still, her hands weaving their way into dark auburn locks. 

Waverly had never been kissed so fully in her entire life. Every kiss sent a fresh surge of desire through her entire body to her core. She couldn’t get Nicole close enough, tight enough to her. She twitched under Nicole’s roaming fingertips, feeling them ghost up her side, tracing each rib. She knew Nicole’s hands were farther up her skin then they had ever been before, and she just wanted them higher, she wanted Nicole to feel every inch of her skin. She felt the older woman hesitate, her thumb cupping the bottom of her right breast. 

Nicole squeezed Waverly’s ribcage, wanting to go higher, but not wanting to rush it. She had wanted to take her time with this, to worship Waverly’s body inch by inch, but now in the heat of the moment, she was struggling to keep her hands from moving immediately to Waverly’s chest and her mouth from racing to Waverly’s sex. 

“Touch me.” Waverly whispered, her voice sounding almost desperate. 

That’s all Nicole needed. She slipped her thumb up over Waverly’s stiff peak, her palms sliding up, cupping Waverly’s whole breast. She wanted more. She wanted her mouth on her. She pulled Waverly’s shirt off in one fluid motion and found Waverly’s left nipple with her lips, leaving her hand to give thorough attention to her right. 

Waverly bit back a moan, not wanting to be too loud with Hailey just across the hall, but also losing control of herself to true passion. She had never been touched like this in her entire life. Nicole was firm but not forceful, passionate but calculated, and her tongue flicking across Waverly’s nipple, her mouth kissing peppered kisses to Waverly’s sternum was getting dangerously close to already pushing Waverly over the edge. 

Nicole switched hands and breasts, turning her mouth’s attention to the younger woman’s right. Waverly moaned when Nicole’s lips hit her breast, her hands tangled back into dark red locks. Waverly’s body rocked up, her legs tightening, pulling her center into Nicole’s, causing friction right where she needed it. She rocked her hips again, a desperate whimper escaped her lips when she found friction again. 

Waverly tugged on the back of Nicole’s shirt, craving more skin. Nicole sat up and pulled her shirt off over her head. Waverly’s eyes roamed over the woman on top of her body. Her hands reached up, stroking up Nicole's defined abdomen. Nicole’s body twitched at the soft touch. She stayed as still as possible, letting the younger woman take her in. She knew this would be different for her and she wanted to let her explore the moment. 

Waverly's hands continued their path upward cupping Nicole’s breasts. The redhead leaned into the touch, her eyes locked on to Waverly's, reveling in the way in which the younger woman was completely savoring the experience. Her eyes devoured Nicole like she was the best book she had ever read. 

Waverly’s thumbs traced tentative circles around Nicole’s stiffening nipples. Nicole bit her lip, her skin was on fire, but she didn't want to rush Waverly. She wanted to watch Waverly take her in ounce by ounce. 

Waverly, ever studious, watched Nicole's chest rise and fall as her breath quickened. The younger woman traced from freckle to freckle across the redhead’s torso with her fingertips, gauging Nicole’s reaction as she went. Waverly wanted to taste her. She sat up and wrapped her arms around Nicole's waist. Starting at her neck, Waverly kissed a trail from the taller woman's earlobe down across her collarbone. 

Nicole’s body jerked into Waverly's abruptly when the younger bit her pulse point. Nicole’s head fell back, exposing more skin, and she moaned softly. 

Waverly had never felt a shot of heat surge within her body in such a way. The tiny woman had cut her fingernails as short as possible the day before, but she managed to rake her nails down Nicole’s back, feathering kisses down the center of of the redheads chest. 

Nicole locked eyes with Waverly, silently begging her to capture a nipple between her beautiful, swollen lips. Waverly received the message and dipped her head down, tracing nervous circles around her before flicking her tongue across Nicole’s pebbling peaks. 

Nicole moaned again, louder this time, her eyes falling shut with the weight of her pleasure. She tangled her hands into Waverly's long, honey brown hair. 

Nicole was a very patient person, but she could feel the heat in her core building into a raging fire. She could feel her own slick wet heat coating the inside of her boxer briefs. She needed to know if Waverly was this wet for her. She leaned her weight forward, effectively lowering the smaller woman back to the soft mattress. She nuzzled Waverly's face aside, kissing down her neck. She kissed down the center of the younger woman’s chest, licking the few beads of accumulated sweat as she went. She dipped her tongue into Waverly's navel, the moan it elicited spurred her motions farther. 

Nicole hooked her thumbs under the non-existent sides of Waverly's lacy black thong and smoothly pulled it down and off. Nicole allowed her eyes to gaze over Waverly's body, the lamp light accentuating each muscle, scar, and freckle. She ran her hands up the inside of the smaller woman's thighs. She watched as Waverly's legs slowly draped open for her. Her breath caught at the absolute vision that was Waverly Earp. 

She caught Waverly's eyes again, they looked wide and nervous but excited, eager almost. Nicole licked her lips, “is this okay, waves?” 

A nervous smile pulled the corners of Waverly's mouth into a deep set smile Nicole had only seen twice. The first was right after Waverly had kissed her on the cheek for the first time and the second was right before they had kissed for the first time in Nicole's truck. This was the smile Waverly reserved for her, for their most intimate moments. 

Waverly nodded yes, she was overwhelmed by the way Nicole was looking at her, checking on her, taking the time to make sure she was doing okay. Waverly didn't know how to say all she was feeling, but she knew Nicole would be willing to hear her stumble through an attempt later, but at the moment, all Waverly wanted was to fuse her body to Nicole’s. 

Nicole slid a leg in between Waverly's, trailing her fingertips down the center of the younger woman's tight body. She captured Waverly's mouth with her own, hoping to express her feelings through a kiss. Her fingers dipped down into Waverly's deliciously wet folds. 

Both of the women moaned with pleasure. Waverly for how Nicole's fingers felt sliding from her entrance up under her hood to gently hit her pulsing bundle of nerves. And Nicole for how wet Waverly was, Nicole broke her kiss shifting her body downwards. She needed to taste her, she needed to be inside of her. 

Waverly let her legs fall completely open, giving herself willingly to Nicole’s rapidly approaching mouth. The young woman’s heart pounded. Not only was this her first time with a woman, this was going to be the first time anyone had ever taken care of her like this. If she was being completely honest with herself, this was going to be the first time anyone took care of her period. Nicole was putting her first, and was clearly taking detailed mental notes on things that Waverly was positively reacting to and repeating them, much to Waverly's surprise and pleasure. Her body trembled with anticipation as Nicole’s tongue flicked across her overly sensitive hip bone. Waverly whimpered again, her breath shallow and shaky. 

Nicole slipped her middle finger deep into Waverly, met with an eager roll of Waverly’s hip and a moan of sheer pleasure. She slipped her ring finger in, joining the middle on her second pump, feeling Waverly’s body draw her fingers into her deeper. Waverly was biting her bottom lip so hard Nicole was afraid she was going to break skin, but she appreciated the effort the smaller woman was making to muffle the exquisite sounds escaping heavy breaths. 

Nicole’s eyes found Waverly’s one last time searching for final confirmation before trailing her tongue up, dragging her silky heat with her. She curled her fingers upwards simultaneously causing Waverly to cry out, her hips fluttering up, desperately urging the redhead for more. 

Nicole looped her free hand under Waverly's right leg, resting her palm just below the younger woman's navel, effectively pinning the smaller girl in place. Nicole’s tongue explored Waverly’s sex, becoming more acquainted with every flick and stroke. Her fingers pumped in and out of Waverly, slow and deep, the young woman moaning with each thrust. The redhead sucked on Waverly’s clit, then traced firm circles around it before making soft, broad strokes from her swollen bundle of nerves to her entrance. 

Waverly could feel the tension in her body building like a summer storm, the clouds rolling in waiting for the thunder to crash and the rain to pour, the pressure pooling within her with each flick and thrust. Nicole’s tongue honed in on a particularly sensitive spot, her fingers now pumping in and out of Waverly's body vigorously. Waverly gripped the soft sheets with her left hand and tangled her fingers into her lover’s auburn hair with her right. 

Her orgasm came like a low rumble that grew to a full fledged roar. Her entire body shook and she held Nicole’s face to her desperately. Waverly could feel thick heat leave her body, flowing from her with a power she had never felt before. She cried out, her voice breaking in her passion. 

Nicole drank Waverly in, wanting to get every last drop that flowed from her body. The redhead woman had never experienced anything as powerful as Waverly’s reaction. She slowed her pace to match the pulsing in Waverly’s body, stilling her thrusts when the younger woman was clearly spent. 

Waverly moaned softly, her eyes fluttering open, settling on Nicole’s. The older woman carefully pulled her fingers out of her, the brunette whimpered at their exit. Eyes still locked with Waverly's, Nicole licked the two fingers clean of Waverly’s slick heat. Waverly’s widened, she had never seen something so sexy. 

“Oh my god.” Waverly whispered. 

Nicole kissed down Waverly's thighs, letting her hands slide over the younger woman's abdomen. She scooted up, kissing along the brunette’s collarbone, her hands holding Waverly’s ribs. Waverly’s fingers tangled back into Nicole's dark red hair, she lifted the redhead’s face to hers and kissed her with every ounce of love she felt. She could taste herself in the older woman’s kiss, her sweat and her heat mixed together, she moaned with every flick of Nicole's tongue against her own. 

Waverly kissed up her courage, “Nicole?” She asked in between Earth shattering kisses. 

“Yes, baby?” Nicole whispered, moving her lips to Waverly’s neck. 

The young woman took a deep breath, “can I…” her voice shook with nerves. Nicole could tell Waverly was trying to ask something important, so she stopped kissing her and locked eyes with her. “Can I try? To, um, please you.” Waverly looked away, embarrassed. 

Nicole waited until Waverly’s eyes returned to hers. “Of course, Waves. You can try anything you want.” Nicole was completely serious, but a dimpled smile was locked into place. 

“I…” Waverly blushed, but managed to not look away, “I'm worried I'm not going to be good at it. I read some articles, but what you just did...” She paused, still reveling in the aftershocks of the orgasm, “I've never, not a single time in my life, experienced anything like that. And I want to give that to you, but-” 

Nicole could tell Waverly would spiral into a nervous ramble if she didn’t jump in when she could. Nicole was going to come undone the second Waverly touched her, there was no doubt in her mind. She honestly, was just hoping she could keep it together for even that long. She was already embarrassed by how wet her boxer briefs were, she couldn’t even imagine how wet she’d be if Waverly touched her. “Waves, this has been perfect. There's no way for it to not be perfect because it's you.” Nicole smiled even deeper and kissed the younger woman's forehead. “Here,” Nicole got off of Waverly, laying down on her back next to her. Waverly watched her without moving to touch her, nervous and excited all at once. Nicole gestured over herself and giggled, “you are now free to roam about the cabin.” 

Waverly smiled, thankful Nicole was clearly already happy with the way the evening had gone. “Okay, will you tell me if you like something, or if you don't?” 

“Absolutely.” Nicole breathed, barely audible as Waverly's mouth hit the pulse point below her right ear. 

The smaller woman shifted her weight on top of the redhead, straddling her hips and kissing a line down the taller woman's throat. Nicole twitched and a gentle moan escaped her lips when Waverly nipped across her collarbone. The younger woman filed that information away as incredibly useful. 

Shaky hands settled themselves on an erratic, pounding heartbeat, sliding down in opposite directions, squeezing gently. Waverly's eyes widened as Nicole bit her lip and attempted to stifle a moan in response. The younger woman traced Nicole's rock hard peaks with her thumbs. Her eyes cataloging Nicole’s every reaction. 

Nicole was trying to remain patient. She loved letting the younger woman explore and take her time, but she was also very aware that if Waverly didn’t touch her there soon, she would come undone before the tiny woman on top of her even got the chance. “Waves,” it was a moan, a desperate plea. 

Waverly’s hands stopped moving, fearing she had done something wrong, “what? Did I do something wrong?” 

“No. No, no, no. You’ve been doing everything right. That’s kind of the point. Baby, I really don’t want to rush but, ummm…” Nicole bit her lip stop herself from encouraging Waverly from doing something she wasn’t even sure the young woman wanted to do. 

“Nicole, what is it? What can I do? Just tell me, I want to be good at this.” 

“Touch me…” Nicole locked eyes with Waverly. The look indicating exactly where Waverly’s hands needed to go. 

Waverly nodded gently and immediately pulled Nicole’s boxer briefs down her body. The young woman let her eyes drift up the tall figure beneath her. Her breath literally taken away. An audible groan escaped her throat, locking a smile onto Nicole’s face. The tiny brunette slid her left hand up the outside of Nicole’s right leg coming to a stop at the beautiful lily tattoo. She gently traced the image with her fingertips, Nicole’s body shivering with pleasure. 

Gaining confidence, Waverly trailed her fingertips inwards, curling through well trimmed auburn curls. Nicole was slick with desire. The younger woman gasped as her fingers ghosted across the redheads folds. Her curiosity peaked far over her nerves, and she dipped a finger in, testing the waters. 

Nicole’s body lifted to meet the exploring hand, desperate for more contact, her legs falling open, begging to be taken. 

Waverly began an exploratory path down to Nicole’s entrance and up under her hood, pausing to circle just as Nicole had done to her. The older woman immediately picked up on the rhythm, matching the beautiful woman on top of her’s movements, her whole body arching for release. 

“Waves.” It wasn’t a question or meant to distract, it was an indication of pleasure, her new favorite word. “Yes, Waves.” 

Waverly hesitated at Nicole’s entrance, wanting more than anything to feel her beautiful redhead release around her. 

“Yes, please.” Nicole moaned, her body moving to meet the delicate fingers. 

The young woman entered her with two fingers, slowly, pushing as deep as she could go. The taller woman’s hands tangled themselves into long soft hair. Waverly pumped again, causing a cry to escape swollen lips. She leaned into the moan, swallowing the sounds, letting her tongue explore as her fingers were. The two women established a new rhythm, this one faster, more deliberate. 

“Baby, I’m…” Nicole didn’t have a chance to finish, before crashing over the edge. Her sentence finished in a groan. 

Waverly felt Nicole’s insides clench around her fingers, the redhead’s body shake beneath her, she did her best to work the other woman down. Nicole clutched to the younger woman in ecstasy. Her breathing fast and shallow, her heart pumping out of her chest. The older woman’s eyes fluttered open to find the younger watching her in nervous anticipation. She let out an exhausted chuckle and pulled Waverly to her chest, she brushed back long wavy brown hair and placed a kiss on the top of the younger woman’s head. 

When her breathing started to even out she searched for words, but she knew they’d never convey how she felt in that moment. “Are you okay, Waves? With all that just happened, are you okay?” 

Waverly propped herself up onto an elbow to look Nicole in the eyes, “Nicole, I’m… I’m so much more than okay. This whole evening, I can’t even begin to describe how I feel. It’s like everything I’ve always missed without even knowing it existed. Did I… did I do okay?” She bit her lip, nervous that she might have stopped too soon. 

“Did you do okay?” Nicole laughed, the sound washing away all of Waverly’s doubts, “Waverly Earp, this is without a doubt the best night of my entire life. Yes, to answer your question, you were amazing.” 

Waverly beamed and settled back down onto Nicole’s shoulder. “This is the best night of my life too, just so you know.” Waverly whispered after a second. 

Nicole tightened her snuggle grip. The young woman in her arms breathing was starting to slow, and Nicole knew she’d fall asleep soon. “Waves?” 

“Hmmm?” The tiny woman tightened her hold on Nicole’s rib cage. 

“Will you be my girlfriend?” It was a nervous whisper. She should have waited, planned it out, done a big thing, but in that moment she wanted nothing more than to make it official. 

Waverly sat up, propping herself on her elbow again, her beautiful smile illuminated by the glow of Nicole’s lamp. “Really?” 

Nicole nodded, “sorry, I should have make a bigger deal out of it. I just-“ 

“YES!” Waverly practically yelled, rolling back on top of the other woman. She leaned in and captured the officer’s lips with her own. “Yes.” She kissed her again, “yes.” She kissed her again before settling back down into the crook of her shoulder. 

Nicole reached up and turned off the bedside lamp, kissed her girlfriend on the top of her head, and ran her fingers through long wavy hair until both women were fast asleep in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and for all the comments and kudos! I can't thank y'all enough!! The response I've gotten from everyone has completely blown me away. Love to all!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... sorry it has taken me so long to post something. I've been working on a novel, but I wanted to spend a day back on my two favorite love birds. I know I promised more Camp fun times, but when I sat down to write, this is what came out. There will be much more from me to come for these two, in my different stories, it just might always take forever in between to get something out.

Chapter 7

Nicole woke up the next morning with her face completely buried in long honey brown hair. Her shoulder was so sore from not having moved all night she thought she might have done permanent damage, and she had never been happier. At some point in the night, Waverly had turned away from her and had scooted in even tighter to her side. The officer was honestly surprised someone so small and with so little body fat could generate that much heat in the night. 

She turned towards the smaller woman, letting her front press against Waverly’s back. She gently swept all of Waverly’s hair for days up to rest above them both and then carefully, so as to not disturb her, draped her arm over her waist. Still dead asleep, Waverly snuggled in even tighter still. Nicole placed a soft kiss on Waverly’s bare shoulder and thanked her lucky stars that last night had been real and not just a wonderful dream. 

The redhead laid there for a few minutes, enjoying the feel of the younger woman breathing against her, the feel of their bodies pressed against each other. She couldn’t stop smiling. Waverly Earp was her girlfriend. Her real, actual girlfriend. Not fake, not just because she had told her sister that, but because she had asked and Waverly had said yes. Nicole suddenly had the overwhelming urge to make Waverly breakfast in bed. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, and coffee. She gently slid her arm out from underneath her sleeping girlfriend, it was numb it was so asleep, but she didn’t even pretend to mind. She would gladly deal with numbness and tingling every morning of her life if it meant Waverly slept tucked into her side like that. 

She carefully rolled out of bed and pulled sweatpants and hoodie on and padded as silently as possible out of the room. She was thankful for her Police Academy training, it had made her as stealthy as a ninja, she thought to herself as she closed her bedroom door. She spun around quickly, “holy shit!” Nicole whisper-yelled. “You scared the shit out of me.” 

Hailey was standing in the guest bedroom’s doorway, arms crossed over her chest and one eyebrow raised. “Kitchen. Now.” Hailey whispered back shutting her door behind her. 

Nicole blushed, she knew Hailey had heard them. She casually started making enough coffee for everyone. “What’s up sis?” She asked, feigning ignorance. 

Hailey just snorted out a laugh, “seriously, ‘Cole, is y’all’s sex always so… exciting?” 

The young officer’s turned redder than her hair in milliseconds. “Well… you see… Waverly lives with her very overprotective sister… who usually gets really hammered at the bar where Waverly works… so then Waverly takes her home… and then it’s late… and then I usually have to wake up really early… so there hasn’t really been… or well… I guess whenever an opportunity presents itself… aw fuck. I’m sorry Hailey. Please don’t be mad at me. I’m so embarrassed.” Nicole nervously ran her fingers through her very messy auburn hair. 

Her younger sister started to crack up, “‘Cole, I’m not at all mad at you. I’m jealous as shit though.” 

Nicole peeked at her through the hair she had let fall in her face, “did your husband hear it?” 

Hailey snorted out a laugh, “God no! He’s literally slept through a fire alarm before, you’re fine.” She hip checked her older sister gently. “So, I take you were sneaking off to make breakfast for everyone?” She smiled mischievously. 

Nicole let out a laugh, “sure. How do you want your eggs?” 

*** 

The Haught sisters double teamed breakfast and soon they had four plates filled bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Fortunately, they had both worked in the restaurant industry before and balancing two full plates and two cups of coffee was nothing for either of them. 

Before they opened their respective doors they stopped to grin at each other, this was a rather meaningful moment for them both. Naturally, Hailey had to lighten the mood, “I do need to shower at some point, so try not to take all day.” 

Nicole snorted, “I make no promises.” She winked and slid through the small crack she had opened in her door. 

She sat the two cups of coffee and one of the plates down on the bedside table nearest Waverly. She sat her plate down on the bedside table on her side. She thought about it for a second before biting her lip and pulling her sweatpants and hoodie back off and crawling back into bed. 

Waverly moaned gently when she felt the return of Nicole’s warmth and she immediately buried her face in the redhead’s neck. She moaned again when she felt steady fingers brush through her wavy locks. Her eyes fluttered open when a gentle kiss was pressed against her forehead and the smell of bacon permeated through the glorious scent of her new girlfriend. The first thing she saw was the most beautiful, dimpled smile in the world. 

“Good morning.” Nicole said softly, tucking some of Waverly’s hair back behind her ear, letting her hand rest on the side of the young woman’s face. Breathing had completely escaped the youngest Earp. “Hi,” she finally managed after not remembering how to respond to good morning. 

The dimples in Nicole’s smile deepened, “hey.” She blushed. “I um… I made you breakfast and coffee.” 

The younger Earp’s eyes watered, she blinked to clear them, but Nicole had caught it. No one had ever once made Waverly breakfast in bed. “You did?” 

“Yeah, Waves.” The officer reached over Waverly and grabbed her plate for her from the bedside table. “Is that okay? You look like I did something wrong.” 

Without taking the plate Waverly captured Nicole’s lips in her own. Her heart was bursting and she was still drunk from the hardest sleep she had ever slept. They were going to have to make this whole sleeping together thing, a regular occurrence. When the younger woman broke the kiss, she beamed at her redheaded girlfriend. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Nicole. Quite the opposite, actually. You’re really… just wonderful.” She kissed her again briefly before gladly accepting her plate. She took a few bites of her food before realizing just how hungry she truly was. “This is delicious. Please don’t judge me if I eat it like a starving animal. I think I need food after last night.” She giggled. 

Nicole blushed, a little surprised Waverly brought it up so brazenly. Well if they were being bold, Nicole was going to get comfortable. She sat up further and leaned back against her headboard, her chest and abdomen completely exposed. 

Waverly froze. Her eyes lingered over her girlfriend’s immaculate torso. Her pupils were blown out immediately with desire. Nicole smirked and continued to enjoy her pancakes. Well two can play that game, the younger woman thought. She too sat up and changed her position to sit in a half lotus yoga stance, resting her plate in her lap, but otherwise exposing herself completely. 

It had had the desired effect. Nicole’s fork hovered, completely still inches from her face. Her chocolate eyes, now jet black. She swallowed nervously, before subconsciously licking her bottom lip. 

Waverly grinned the smile she seemed to have on reserve for her young officer. “I need to eat breakfast first.” 

Nicole’s eyes shot up, she would have been embarrassed, but she realized Waverly was completely serious. She nodded softly and reached over for her cup of coffee. A dangerous smile broke across her tiny girlfriend’s beautiful face. 

“After breakfast though…” her eyebrow quirked up “Would you like to be my dessert?” 

The officer’s mouth fell open. So much for being the cocky, smooth one in the relationship. 

“Is that a yes?” 

Nicole cleared her throat nervously, “yeah, that would be nice.” Her response was lame, but what was she supposed to say? 

She tried her best to not downright shovel her food into her mouth. She was pleased to notice that her tiny girlfriend has also picked up the pace. A smile twitched up at the corner of the redhead’s lips. This was real. Waverly was here, completely naked in bed in front of her eating breakfast and talking dirty. This was perfect. She enjoyed the last few bites of her pancake stack, deciding that she wasn’t really capable of making pancake eating sexy. If anything, it was just messy. A trail of syrup dripped down her chin. “Ugh, smooth Nicole.” She muttered to herself before she sat her plate down and reached for the stack of napkins she brought. 

“Wait.” Waverly caught her hand before she could reach the stack. Waverly sat her almost empty plate down on top of Nicole’s and scooted closer. The younger woman tucked a loose strand of Nicole’s hair back behind her ear and tilted her face ever so slightly. Waverly leaned in and traced the line of syrup up her girlfriend’s chin to the bottom of her lip. Her lips melted into her officer’s, her syrup covered tongue dipping into her mouth. 

Nicole broke their kiss, “hang on.” She moved the precariously placed plates up to the nightstand. 

Waverly smiled, she loved that sometimes Nicole was even more responsible than she was. 

“Okay,” dimples carved into Nicole’s porcelain skin. 

Waverly kissed the one closest to her, she couldn’t help herself. 

“Did you just kiss my dimple?” 

The younger woman just nodded, almost embarrassed, but not deterred. She pushed her girlfriend back onto her back and moved to straddle her. “You know,” Nicole said in between passionate kisses, “please don’t ever feel obligated to do this.” 

Waverly immediately stopped, “did I do something wrong?” 

“What? God no, this feels amazing. This has been like the best twenty-four hours of my life. I just don’t ever want you to think you have to do this.” 

Sometimes Nicole made Waverly so happy, she almost made her sad. She had never been this cared for in her entire life, and it was all just beginning. Her heart swelled. “Nicole, I had an amazing time last night, I ummm…” she fidgeted nervously on top of her very naked, very beautiful girlfriend, “I just really want more. Is that okay?” 

“Of course, Waves! I just don’t want you to think you have to. Ever. Okay?” She smiled her charming smile, “more please?” 

Waverly beamed and began trailing kisses down Nicole’s neck. 

*** 

Waverly nestled her face in the crook of Nicole’s neck. They were both sweating ever so slightly. “We can just keep going and going, can’t we?” Waverly said, though it was more like panting as she was completely out of breath after her girlfriend had just made her cum a third time that morning. 

Nicole laughed, “Yes, ma’am. We can just keep going and going until one of us passes out from exhaustion and then when we wake up we can go again.” 

“This is amazing. You’re amazing. I’m just so…” Waverly gestured wildly with her hands, “happy isn’t a strong enough word. Sublime? In heaven?” 

The redhead planted a soft kiss to the smaller woman’s forehead. “Well, I hate to ruin it, but we should probably get up. I’m sure my sister is about ready to bust down the door to take a shower.” 

“Holy shit-balls.” Waverly sat up immediately, “I forgot your sister and Tom are here. Oh my God, Nicole, I feel terrible! Are you mad at me?” 

“Waves, baby, it’s okay.” She was smiling brightly. 

Waverly could see marks bruising along her officer’s collar bone, she couldn’t help but run her finger across them. “I’m going to get dressed. Just how embarrassed should I be about all this, because on a scale to one hundred, I’m at like a ninety-four.” 

“Oh, no. Waves, seriously, bump that down to like a thirty-four-and-a-half.” Nicole scooted to the edge of the bed so she’d be closer to where Waverly was standing. She wrapped her arms around her waist and rested her head in between her girlfriend’s breasts. She leaned back to look up into her eyes and whispered, “they were going to do it too.” She giggled like a little kid, “that’s why it’s fine. I’ll bet you a dollar Hailey’s just as worried as you are that one of us heard something.” 

Waverly started to giggle to, relaxing immediately. “Okay, clothes.” She kissed Nicole on the top of the head. 

Waverly sighed, how on Earth was she going to wear Nicole’s clothes? She had a solid five inches on her. She wished Wynonna had thought to pack her an emergency next day outfit to go with the slutty underwear she sent, not that she was really mad about the underwear now. “Shit!” Waverly exclaimed, she dug through her bag for her phone, “I forgot to text Wynonna.” When she dug out her cell phone, she had missed twenty-two text messages and four calls. All from the night before into the wee hours of the morning. Everything from ‘yo, are you good?’ to her most recent text of, ‘I swear to God, little sister, this better be the best sex of your life for you to ignore me like this.’ Waverly smiled and typed out a short message for her sister to see when she woke up, ‘it was. ;) Call me when you wake up?’ 

“Okay, so this whole clothes thing is kind of a terrible idea.” Nicole laughed. 

“You think?!” Waverly exclaimed. 

“Well, you should definitely wear this hoodie. You kind of have bite marks all over you.” Nicole looked nervously at her feet. 

“What? Really?” She smiled her dangerous smile, “I guess it’s a good thing I have the next couple of days off then.” 

Nicole laughed out the breath she had been holding. “Okay, then here.” She handed her the hoodie and dug through her shorts drawer, “oh good. I didn’t even know I had a pair of these out. Soccer shorts, so they don’t come across as capri’s.” 

Waverly put on her bra from the day before and pulled the hoodie on over it. She just pulled the shorts up, not even bothering with the lace thong that held an ocean just last night. “Thank you, this will do for now.” 

“We can run by the homestead before we go out tonight.” 

Waverly quirked up an eyebrow, “out? What do you have planned for tonight?” “

I uhhh…” Nicole bit her lip nervous her tiny girlfriend would shut her down, “I was kind of hoping you and Wynonna would want to help me show them Shorties.” Her tiny girlfriend just snorted out a laugh, “if you don’t think it will ruin their good opinion of me, I say let’s do it.” 

*** 

Shorties with one Earp was dangerous enough, but Shorties with the Earp sisters was what the lovely townsfolk of Purgatory called a code red. Rule number one was just give them the pool table. If you were dumb enough to play them they would play you for money, drinks, or anything else of yours they could think of that they wanted, and they would always win and take it from you. Rule number two was if you were drinking tequila, you might as well switch, the bar was going to run out that night. Waverly had practically grown up in that bar, and Wynonna had spent enough time in her life in them for everyone to know what to expect when they rolled in. 

When the Earp sisters and the Haught sisters plus Tom walked in, the bar fell quiet. That was until Waverly smiled and waved a few regulars, abating the concern for the time being. Waverly grabbed Nicole’s hand and pulled her towards the bar, “get our table!” She yelled at her shoulder at Wynonna, who shuffled the married couple off to Waverly’s favorite booth in the back corner. 

When they got all settled in, Wynonna yelled over the roar of the bar, “how are you liking Purgatory?” Hailey smiled, “it’s so cute. It’s so cool that you’re related to Wyatt Earp! I actually have his biography. I was telling Waves about it today, of course she knows so much about this area, it’s truly fascinating.” 

She was being completely genuine and Wynonna really liked that. Actually, Hailey and Tom had seemed like lovely people, just like Nicole. Wynonna was really happy that Waves had ended up actually with Nicole. She had given Wynonna the run down while they were hastily getting ready for tonight. Wynonna wasn’t dumb, her little sister usually had at least her midriff poking out. For her to have it covered could only mean one thing: hickies. She fully intended to harass her about them later, but for now she would just let her enjoy her happy little love bubble. 

Just then her little sister and her very tall girlfriend appeared at the table with enough drinks for everyone to have at least two shots and a mixed drink. Waverly was beaming. Nicole looked very concerned. “I normally wouldn’t be okay with this, but Deputy Marshall Dolls was kind enough to offer to drive us all home when this is all over.” Wynonna immediately peeked around her little sister and raised her eyebrows at her boss. “Oh Dolls, what a lovely straight laced man.” She looked back at the tray of drinks Waverly had carried over. “Well, let’s get this party started!” She grabbed two shots and took them in succession. 

“Hell yeah!” Tom yelled, and did the same. 

Waverly caught Nicole’s eye and winked. Waverly was the happiest she had ever been in her entire life. She took a shot and popped up on her toes to peck Nicole on the cheek. Nicole was a little surprised by Waverly’s action. She didn’t mind if anyone knew, but even though they were an official couple now, it had been for fewer than twenty-four hours, and Waverly just kissed her on the cheek while sober. 

Nicole blushed. She grinned at her tiny girlfriend and ushered her into the seat next to Wynonna. Waverly blushed as well. She hadn’t intended to have any public displays of affection, mainly because she worked there, Nicole was a cop in the town, they were there with their sisters, and mainly she didn’t know how Nicole felt about it. 

The look on Nicole’s face suggested that she wasn’t in any way upset about Waverly’s kissing her on the cheek. In fact the younger of the two thought she saw a flash of excitement. Waverly rested her hand on Nicole’s thigh under the table. For the younger Earp this amount of PDA was mild. Champ was all about claiming his territory to anyone within a mile radius of Waverly, so for Nicole to be blushing and beaming over this alone had Waverly thrilled. She no longer felt like an object, even though she was smarter, arguably more attractive, more successful, made more money, and actually had potential, Champ had always made her feel inferior to him. She wasn’t surprised. Looking back on it, that was clearly the only way he managed to keep them together for so long. But somehow, with this woman who was insanely beautiful, intelligent, funny, and with a real career Waverly felt more of an equal than ever before. 

Waverly was positively beaming, the table did another round of shots. Then Hailey and Nicole did shots together, then Waverly and Wynonna did shots together, then Tom and Hailey, then Nicole and Waverly. Then Wynonna went and got them another tray full of shots. 

“Let’s go play pool!” Wynonna exclaimed wildly after downing her sixth shot. 

"Yes! This is going to be great.” Waverly grabbed one of the mix drinks she and Nicole had brought on the first tray. 

“Okay, but baby I think you and Wynonna are going to have to play on different teams. It’s the only way to make it fair.” Nicole said loud enough for the whole group to hear. 

Wynonna looked disappointed, but Hailey and Tom nodded emphatically in agreement. Tom laughed, “I’m admittedly terrible, but I would love to play. Also, is it getting hot in here to everyone or is it just me?” 

Everyone at the table started to laugh. Waverly and Nicole learned the night before that Tom is a total lightweight. “Okay, we’ll win us the table as a duo and then yeah we can play on different teams.” 

Hailey looked across the table at the Earp sisters, “So, which one of you is going to help me kick my big sister and my husband’s ass?” 

Waverly’s dangerous smile flickered across her lips, “definitely me.” 

Wynonna raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, baby sister? You’re on. Big sisters plus Tom vs little sisters. Y’all are going down.” 

They vacated their booth and found the game going that was nearest the end. Waverly went and grabbed her favorite pool cue, it was slightly longer than the average pool cue and her ideal 20 ounces. She always played with it and she always won with it. “Can we play you gentlemen for the table?” 

The two guys who were playing grumbled. It would be a hit to their ego to either say no or to just give up the table, but at the same time, whenever Waverly found the pool cue she was looking for, they knew they would lose. One time, one of the locals tried to play with it just to see if it would keep her from winning, but it didn’t. She just played him for his table so she could have her favorite stick back after beating him. “Sure,” the taller one said. “But could you at least buy us a beer this time?” 

Waverly giggled her bubbly, charming, laugh that Nicole recognized as her work laugh. “Sure thing, Pete.” She said before handing Nicole her stick and bouncing off to the bar. The Earp sisters even let Pete and his brother Kyle break, and they still won in a matter of minutes. The guys weren’t too mad though, they did manage to get free beer out of it. Hailey and Tom watched, stunned. It was like watching professionals play. 

“I’ve never seen anyone make more than two in a row, and your girlfriend just cleared the table.” Tom said to Nicole who was watching with a look far dirtier than admiration. 

While Wynonna racked the balls for the next game, Waverly sauntered over to her tall sexy girlfriend. “I’m sorry to say it, but I’m about to have to kick your ass.” 

“Is that a bet?” Nicole whispered it seductively in her tiny girlfriend’s ear. 

Waverly took a step into Nicole’s personal space, and looked up into chocolate brown eyes, “depends. What do I get when I win.” 

The officer quirked up an eyebrow, “winner gets a lap dance from the loser?” 

Waverly from point blank range gave her girlfriend a once over, “yep. I’ll take that bet. And I’ll raise you one.” She stood up on her tippy toes to whisper in Nicole’s ear, “the only thing to stay on is your white Stetson.” 

Nicole just winked at Waverly, it was so on. Nicole wanted that lap dance. She wasn’t very good at pool, but she was going to give it her best. They decided that the Earp sisters would go last, so that everyone at least got a turn a game. They also decided the winner of the battle of the siblings plus Tom would be determined by best three out five games. Waverly quickly downed her drink and went to get a refill. When she left the bar she noticed that Champ was also at Shorties that night with his usual crew of worthless rodeo friends. She rolled her eyes and thanked her lucky stars that she was there with someone who made her feel valued and not like property. 

She made it back over to the table and dispersed the round of drinks she had just gotten everyone. Hailey and Tom had already gone. She made it back just in time to see Nicole go. The redhead sank two stripes before missing. 

Waverly made four on her turn before barely missing a skip shot over the eight ball. She laughed excitedly, she was feeling drunk, warm, and happy, surrounded by all of her favorite people. She wrapped her arms around Nicole’s waist. “Is this okay? Am I being too much? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” 

“Oh Waves, I’m fine. This is perfect. You know you don’t have to though, right?” 

Waverly giggled, “I know. Thank you for being so wonderful.” Waverly really considered kissing her then, but she thought that might be pushing it for herself. So she settled on snuggling into Nicole’s side until she took the hint and put her arm around Waverly’s shoulders. 

Wynonna almost won the game for her team, with Waverly having cleared most of the table, she had several open shots and was able to set herself up nicely. After Hailey’s turn it was really just a matter of who made the eight ball first and Nicole was up. 

Waverly very seriously considered distracting her, but as much as she really wanted to get a lap dance from Nicole, she also really wanted to give her one. So instead she waited politely with her hands behind her back and watched her very sexy girlfriend line up her shot. 

“Right Pocket,” she called before making a beautiful shot. The older sisters plus Tom were officially up by a game. Nicole beamed. She knew she wasn’t going to be anywhere near as good as her girlfriend at this, but she also didn’t want to suck. She felt like winning a game had solidified that. 

“Nice shot,” Waverly kissed her on the cheek again as she approached. “It’s still your turn though, so you’re going to have to break after ‘Nonna get’s them re-racked. I’m going to go get some more drinks for everybody. Don’t shoot ’til I’m back?” Her smile was radiant. 

Nicole nodded, awkwardly. She was still surprised by Waverly’s amount of warmth and affection. She wondered if she would ever get used to it. She watched Waverly intentionally sashay away. Hips swaying from side-to-side. The youngest Earp knew her tall redheaded girlfriend was watching and she wanted to keep her wanting more until one of them was happily receiving a lap dance later. 

Waverly leaned across the bar and told her Aunt what everybody wanted for their next round. Waverly was thankful that her Aunt owned the bar and that she worked at said bar. If not, she and Wynonna would rack up ridiculous bar charges every night. As it was now, Waverly always got at least half off the drinks she actually had to pay for and tonight even after all the drinks, she had only spent twenty bucks. 

“Is one of those for me?” Champ the chump said, far too close to Waverly’s ear for her comfort. 

Waverly immediately put a barstool between the two of them. 

Gus passed Waverly her drinks and gave Champ a look. Gus was rather fond of Waverly’s relationship with the beautiful officer, and didn’t want a chump like Champ Hardy ruining a relationship that actually had a future and could get Waverly out of this small town and out into the world. 

Waverly smiled at Gus, she knew Gus had her back if Champ started to make a scene. Gus had always barely tolerated Champ, but now, she’d throw his ass out of the bar faster than a fly could blink. “No, Champ. They’re for my sister and Nicole and Nicole’s family.” She looked over and smiled nervously at her beautiful girlfriend. Her beautiful girlfriend who was definitely aware that Champ had cornered Waverly at the bar. 

Wynonna circled around the pool table to stand next to the officer. “You’re fine Haughtshot. I know Waves, she’s not stupid. And while she might be a little drunk, I’ve never heard her talk about someone like she talks about you.” 

Hailey and Tom moved over, wondering what all the fuss was about, “What is it? Who is that?” 

“Waverly’s worthless ex,” Wynonna said. 

“It’s not Waverly that I’m worried about. It’s about Champ doing or saying something stupid, and about me putting my fist through his face.” Wynonna laughed, “don’t worry Haughtstuff, it’ll be whoever can swing faster.” She nudged her with her elbow. 

Nicole smiled, Wynonna might have missed a lot of Waverly’s life, but she sure was a great big sister when she was present. 

“Are you serious, Waves?” Champ whined, “you’re here with her?” 

“I’m not just here with her Champ.” Waverly’s tone was harsh. “I’m with her. Like with her with her. Like she’s my girlfriend. And I’ve met her sister and her sister’s husband. So yes, to make it simple for you, yes I’m here with her.” 

“That’s just disgusting. You’re disgusting.” He spat back in her face. 

“Well, Champ, you’re drunk, and apparently a raging homophobe.” 

“You know it’s not even just because she’s a girl.” Champ was fired up now. He pushed over the barstool that Waverly had smartly put between them. 

This caused Wynonna both Haught sisters and Tom to quickly move to Waverly’s side. “Hey Chump, I’m going to suggest you back down now.” Wynonna said, not accidentally resting her hand on peacemaker. 

“Why? Because she’s dating a cop?” He yelled it. Everyone in the bar turned to watch. Not only was it a fight involving Earps’, it was also involving a cop and one of their exes. It was basically small town pay-per-view. 

Despite the crew that had assembled behind Waverly, Champ decided to move forward into her bubble. He had never hit her before but his fist clenched looking like tonight might change that. Waverly tried to take a step back, but before Champ had a chance to pull back, Nicole had dropped him with one punch to the face. 

“Alright, that’s it. Take it outside.” Gus came, casually strolling up. She could have stopped the altercation at any point in time, but she had been really hoping that someone would take Champ down a peg or two, once and for all. And now that it had happened, she would do her job as a bar owner and tell them to take it outside. 

Nicole looked embarrassed. She was worried she might have just crossed about fifty lines of Waverly’s, she was honestly afraid to look at her. But dammit, Champ had cornered her and had clenched his fist at her. And Nicole could have sworn he was about to swing. Nicole shot Gus an apologetic glance, but Gus was positively beaming at her. 

“Thank you” Gus mouthed in her direction. 

Nicole’s stomach dropped again, what was going to happen to her at work if Nedley found out? Would she get benched? Or worse? It was then that she realized that Waverly had pulled her into a rather passionate kiss and half the bar was cheering for them. I guess stepping up and protecting Waverly Earp wasn’t something that happened too often, and if you did it to her ex-boyfriend who used to treat her like shit, it won you a lot of friends really fast. 

“Oh don’t make them leave Gus, that pretty boy’s had it come since he started pawin’ around Waverly, and I’ll say it’s about damn time someone decked him one good.” Nicole had never seen the man before, but he was old enough to be her dad, so he must have known Waverly for a long time. He gave Nicole a pat on the shoulder. “You can stay, deputy. I think you’re going to fit in quite nicely around here. And Waverly, you finally picked a good one.” He laughed, “I’ll carry him out, you buy this whole group their next round on me.” The man picked Champ up off the ground and lugged him, to the door. 

“So wait, you’re not mad at me?” Nicole asked Waverly? 

Waverly smiled, “mad at you? I ACTUALLY thought Champ, who’s never acted like that before, was going to hit me. No, I’m not mad at you. Phill’s right, you can stay, deputy.” Waverly popped back up on her toes and kissed Nicole again. In front of the whole bar. She didn’t care. She wanted them all to know she was madly in love with this beautiful, brilliant, sexy, ass kicking woman. Who, as everyone just learned, should not be fucked with. And who Waverly knew was totally getting a lap dance later.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waverly gives Nicole a lap dance...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really just wanted to put Waverly in Nicole's Sheriff's uniform and then let her take it off. So, that's really where this chapter came from. :0)
> 
> Hope you like it!

After the Champ incident, the gang had resumed their pool playing bet. Nicole wasn’t entirely sure why she would have made a bet against an Earp involving pool, when she was mediocre at best and the Earp’s were easily as good as the average pro circuit player. 

Her girlfriend seemed to have a renewed desire to win after Nicole had knocked her ex boyfriend out with her fist. Needless to say, the next three games were ended when it was finally Waverly’s turn. Wynonna was pissed about that, but too drunk to really care. She did keep eyeing Waverly though. Normally Waverly liked to take her time with games of pool. She would finish full drinks, sometimes two during them. She carefully lined up shots and tried new tricks and would try to perfect things that she would consider her weak points. But tonight, Wynonna noticed, she cleared the tables with the quickest, easiest, and most efficient shots. Wynonna wasn’t mad, it was probably the first time she had ever seen Waverly legitimately play pool, but it was curious. 

Wynonna was sitting in the passenger seat of Dolls’s SUV, and she could feel the heat between the lovebirds in the back seat from there. She smirked, her little sister probably sped through the games so she could jump her girlfriend’s bones faster as a reward for her sexy display of ass-kicking prowess. 

The older Earp was genuinely happy for her little sister, and for the rookie cop. She also had had a good time with the Haught sister and her husband. It was the most domestic evening of Wynonna’s life and oddly enough, to her at least, she really hoped she would get more nights like this from here on out. She no longer felt like a lone wolf, she felt like a member of a pack of all runts, and she had never been happier. 

Nicole sat in the very back row of Dolls’s SUV trying to figure out what on Earth she was going to do. She was drunk enough that she was going to give this lap dance her best shot, but she was also drunk enough to admit to herself that she was not the world’s greatest dancer. 

Sure when she was younger she had tried the stereotypical ballet, but she had been so tall that by the time she was about seven, she had already determined that ballet was not the sport for her and had switched into basketball and soccer. It wasn’t like she was an embarrassment in a club, no one had ever told her to stop dancing on them, but a lap dance? What had she been thinking? 

She actually knew what she had been thinking. She had been thinking about how great it would have been to win, somehow, and to have Waverly give her a lap dance. Now that, she was sure would have been amazing. Because for as studious and as seemingly shy as Waverly was, Nicole had learned recently that she was also far more bold and probably far better at a seductive dance than Nicole could ever hope to be. 

Nicole was so preoccupied, trying to figure out what she was going to do in the way of a lap dance, that she had missed the look in Waverly’s eyes before the SUV’s lights had dimmed. Waverly already had planned out exactly how the evening was going to go. She could tell her girlfriend was nervous, but there wasn’t really a way to lean over and say, “don’t worry baby. I’m going to take care of tonight’s entertainment.” So she just let her own energy feed off of Nicole’s and by the time Dolls finally parked his SUV in front of Nicole’s apartment, she was about ready to burst and save the dance for later. 

Hailey and Tom had both passed out. Nicole wondered if they had ever been this intoxicated before. She smiled, her nerves momentarily slipping away. This is what you get when you party with Earp’s. She glanced at her girlfriend, practically bouncing in the seat next to her, the younger woman’s leg pressed up against her own, thin fingers tracing up her thigh higher and higher. She had been so nervous the whole ride home she had missed Waverly’s less than subtle indications of excitement for what was to come. 

Nicole swallowed nervously. This was it, she was going to be attempting a lap dance here in a second and would assuredly be embarrassed in two. She helped Hailey to the front door and smiled as Dolls threw an arm under Tom and practically carried him to the door. 

“Thanks, Dolls.” Nicole said as she shut the door to her office. “I would have had to stay sober tonight if you hadn’t offered to give us a ride.” 

Dolls smiled his rarely earned smile, “I thought you could use a night of fun, besides if you had stayed sober, I wouldn’t have gotten to see you knock out Champ Hardy. I’m calling tonight a win-win.” He lowered Tom onto the futon Nicole had set up for her sister and her sister’s husband in what looked to be an office. He thought the apartment was a good representation of Nicole, organized, clean, oddly decorated, but gave off a very warm vibe. He really should just go ahead and rent a place and get out of that terrible hotel. He made a mental note to ask Nicole for more information about the apartment complex as she lead him back to the front. 

Nicole stood in the doorway of the front door, “are you sure you’re safe with that one out there?” She nodded towards a very drunk Wynonna trying to sexy beckon Dolls to her. Nicole laughed, Dolls was so far out of his comfort zone when it came to Wynonna it was almost not funny. 

His smile faded, he was actually nervous, “yeah, I should be fine. I might tranquilize her though.” 

Nicole snorted. She knew he was being serious, but the thought of Wynonna attacking Dolls and his response to be literally tranquilizing her was hilarious. 

“How about you? Are you safe with the little one?” Dolls was teasing, he didn’t know why, but he knew Nicole had seemed very nervous the entire ride home and Waverly… well Waverly hadn’t hidden how she felt at all. 

Nicole nodded and bit her bottom lip, a blush clearly forming along her cheeks. “I think so.” She smiled nervously. 

Dolls smiled again at that, “good luck.” He fist bumped the redheaded officer and headed back out towards his car. 

Nicole shut and locked her door, sighing nervously. Waverly had immediately disappeared into her room as soon as they had made it home. That was a scary thought. She poured them two glasses of ice water and headed towards her room. “You can do this,” she whispered to herself before knocking softly on the door, just in case. 

Waverly opened the door, Nicole’s Stetson already perched on top of her head. Surprisingly enough, she was also wearing Nicole’s standard issue Sheriff’s Deputy Shirt. Buttoned even lower than she dared leave it, and hang untucked, to the bottom of Waverly’s jean short shorts. Nicole was confused, she lost the bet. The glasses of water were quickly taken from her and placed on the nearest available surface and Nicole was pushed back onto the edge of her bed. “Waves?” Her voice was shaky with the jarring changed from fear to desire. “I thought I was supposed to strip.” 

“Yes, but baby… you earned this.” Waverly turned music up on Nicole’s stereo. 

Nicole would have protested on principal, but Waverly Earp had just unclipped her intricate hairstyle for the day and run thin, skilled fingers through her honey brown hair for days, and had secured her officer’s Stetson back on her head. Nicole's jaw dropped, she was genuinely in awe. 

Waverly moved forward, stalking towards her girlfriend, unbuttoning her shirt as she went. By the time she was close enough to touch her beautiful girlfriend, she was able to rip open her shirt, her yellow lace bra doing little, if anything, to hide her perfect breasts below. 

Nicole instinctive reached up, lost in the music, vaguely aware that Waverly was stripping to “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” but mainly too intensely focused on tracing the ripples in her girlfriend’s abs. 

Waverly took a deliberate step back and shook her head. “Nu-uh Officer, standard strip club rules. You’re not allowed to touch.” 

Nicole blinked, taken aback, she almost laughed, “what? Waves, seriously?” 

“Handcuffs. Where are they?” Waverly was one hundred percent serious, and if she was going to be able to get all the way naked for Nicole on her own, Nicole’s hands had to not touch her. She’d cave and they’d end up skipping the dance and go straight to the finale. 

Nicole blushed, “am I about to get handcuffed by my girlfriend?” She was clearly excited, but also shocked. 

Waverly smirked and nodded. Nicole hopped up and quickly moved to her police belt, hanging neatly in her closet. She returned with a pair of standard issue Sheriff’s Deputy handcuffs and a tiny silver key. She had never once done anything even remotely like this. The only time she had ever gotten a lap dance was on her twenty-first birthday when some of her friends from college had dragged her to a strip club. 

She nervously handed Waverly the handcuffs and the key. Waverly smartly put the key in a very visible spot on the the top of Nicole’s dresser, so that she wouldn’t misplace it somewhere in Nicole’s bed. While Waverly did that, Nicole got herself comfortable on the bed, seated on the edge, so that her sexy girlfriend could still perform for her, and waited with her hands behind her back. 

She hadn’t been handcuffed since she was in the Police Academy, and it had only ever been for practice based official business. She swallowed nervously as Waverly shimmied out of her uniform shirt and pressed her chest into Nicole’s face, wrapping either arm around the officer to clasp the cuffs behind her back. 

“This is okay, right?” Waverly whispered while gently sucking on her girlfriend’s ear lobe. 

“Mmhmm.” Nicole practically moaned, biting her lip. 

“They’re not too tight, right? I’ve uhhh… never put handcuffs on anyone.” Waverly blushed, the concern evident in her eyes. 

Whenever Nicole smiled for Waverly, her face would almost hurt she would smile so hard. This was one of those moments. “You did great, baby.” She whispered, her voice an octave lower than normal and dripping with desire. 

Instead of responding, her tiny girlfriend bit her neck, and then let her body start moving against the Officer’s front. Firm, thin fingers slid up the redhead’s legs and pushed them open. Waverly spun and dipped her ass to hit Nicole’s front. Nicole almost whimpered as Waverly twisted and moved to the music, expertly tilting the Stetson so as to avoid Nicole’s hitting her face with the sturdy brim. 

The youngest Earp had never given anybody a lap dance before, but with as hard as her very fit girlfriend was breathing, she knew she must have been doing a good job. She also had a feeling she was doing okay because Nicole was kissing down the side of her neck. 

Waverly seductively traced her fingers down her own exposed stomach to the button of her jeans. She unsnapped and unzipped her jean shorts. She stood, removing the pressure and friction from her redheaded girlfriend’s front. Nicole’s chest was visibly rising and falling, her breathing heavy, her pupils fully blown out. 

Waverly kicked off her boots, and slowly, to the beat of whatever song had come on next slid her jean shorts down her perfectly toned legs. Nicole’s eyes were locked on the matching yellow lace thong. It wasn’t lost on the redhead that she had actually seen her girlfriend in that bra before. The day that she had introduced herself to the sexy young bar tender, who was now stripping for her, was the first time the redhead had gotten to see her in the practically useless top, but the bottoms were a new and pleasant surprise. Nicole’s smile slid back into place, her dimples etched into her cheeks. 

The younger woman spun, revealing to Nicole all the ways she could move her body. Nicole’s jaw dropped. Her girlfriend spun back to face her, stalking closer again, she put a knee on either side of the handcuffed officer’s legs and started to grind into her front. 

The young officer didn't know how to respond. Waverly had said standard strip club rules, but unfortunately for Nicole, that meant she didn't know all the rules, and presently Waverly's grinding was driving her crazy, but she felt like she'd immediately get in trouble if she attempted to bite the bra out of the way and take her girlfriend's nipple into her mouth. So, she just devoured the young Earp's body with her eyes and hungrily licked her lips. 

"Do you like what you see, officer?" Waverly whispered seductively into her girlfriend's ear flipping over again to grind her ass into the Deputy’s front. Nicole hummed and nodded nervously. She was glad she hadn't ended up being the one to strip, as anything she could have come up with would have paled in comparison to this. 

Waverly began trailing kisses down her girlfriend's neck, wishing she had made her take her sweater off before hand cuffing her. She made do with what she could feasibly work with, she slid her body down the front of Nicole’s, then undid the buckle of her pants. She pulled the belt out roughly, hoping she didn’t break any belt loops, but knowing that if she did she was fully capable of fixing them tomorrow. 

Nicole’s whole body arched up with the removal of her belt. She had never been more aroused in her entire life. Waverly’s hips moving in time with music, regardless of the song, her hair flipping everywhere, and her breasts bouncing gently, occasionally into the officer’s own body. Nicole was actually embarrassed by how wet she was as Waverly pulled her pants off of her. 

The younger Earp tossed Nicole’s pants haphazardly over her shoulder. They definitely wouldn’t be needing those anymore tonight. She traced her finger tips up Nicole’s legs to the bottom of her boys boxer briefs, and then skipped on up to the hem of her shirt. 

She fingered the waist band of the briefs, pushing Nicole’s shirt up enough to be able to draw a line from her bellybutton down to her waistband with her tongue. Waverly started to pull Nicole’s blue and black plaid boxers down. 

“Waves,” it was a moan. 

Waverly looked up into her girlfriend’s eyes, bit her bottom lip, quirked an eyebrow, and dropped the boxers to her officer’s ankles. 

Nicole’s whole body was on fire. “Waves, wait.” 

Waverly’s eyes jerked away from Nicole’s sex and immediately locked her hazel onto Nicole’s chocolate brown, “what’s wrong, baby?” Her voice was dripping with concern. 

Nicole was practically panting, “I’m… umm… I’m just crazy wet and I’m probably going to be super sensitive.” Her face flushed even darker red, as if she was embarrassed to be as aroused as Waverly had hoped for. 

“Okay, do you want me to stop? Or hold off?” 

“No, I just… be careful?” 

“Okay, love. You can tell me to stop at any time, yeah?” 

It had not escaped Nicole that Waverly had just called her love. But she was even more aware of the gentle tracing of her girlfriend’s tongue up and down along her entrance. 

*** 

This was the second morning in a row that Nicole got to wake up to a naked Waverly. A smile broke across her face. This morning though, Waverly was already awake and had some how managed to make coffee and make it back into bed with out waking up the young officer. 

Waverly hadn’t noticed that her beautiful girlfriend woken up. She turned the page in the book she was reading quietly, her eyes flew back and forth absorbing the information. Nicole watched her for a second, in awe of her concentration. 

The younger woman took a sip of her coffee and pushed her hair back. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through her officer’s hair, oblivious to the fact that the officer was awake and studying her. She turned the page two more times before noticing. She blushed and smiled, her eyes crinkling around the edges. She covered her face with the back of her hand. “How long have you been awake?” 

“Long enough to know that you’re a very fast reader, and take a sip of coffee in-between every page, and are an incredibly good head masseuse.” Nicole smiled, her dimples hurt she had been smiling so hard for the past few minutes. She scrunched up the bed so she could lean back against the head board next to her beautiful girlfriend, and took a sip of coffee. 

The fact that Waverly had called her love last night hit her again. She was so in love with the woman sitting next to her, but she really didn’t want to rush it and potentially push her away. What if Waves had just been caught up in the moment, or secretly British and called everyone love, or didn’t want to talk about it yet? 

“Baby, what’s with your face?” Waverly was looking at Nicole with eyes dripping with concern. “Did I not put enough sugar in your coffee?” 

“What?” 

“You look nauseous. Are you okay?” 

“Oh. Yeah.” Shit. She had gotten herself into a situation. At that moment she wondered if she had been spending too much time with Waverly, because she was about to word vomit every where, and simultaneously she thought she could never spend too much time with Waverly, which told her she really needed the answer. “I’m really not trying to scare you away, but I have to know, and it’s okay no matter what the answer is… I mean, I get it, we’re still new. And I’m really not trying to rush anything, it’s just that…” 

“Nicole, you need to know what? You can ask me anything.” 

“Last night… you called me love.” Nicole bit her lip, she was almost shaking she was so nervous. What if Waverly said she hadn’t meant it. 

Waverly blushed. She had wondered if Nicole was going to bring it up. She hadn’t meant to let it slip so soon. But it was true, she did love her. She had thought what she had with Champ was love, she had done that for years, but this, this made that all seem so silly and insignificant. She wanted to wake up with Nicole like this forever. Every day, just be completely this surrounded by love and affection and genuine interest. “I did, yes.” Waverly smiled, shyly. She could tell how much her girlfriend wanted more of an answer and sometimes, well sometimes it was fun to occasionally make the cocky officer nervous. 

Nicole fidgeted with the sheet draped across her waist, “ummm… well, I guess I was kind of wondering what you meant by that?” 

Waverly paused, not dramatically, but she just wanted to say it correctly out loud for the first time, “well… I meant that when I see you I think of love. I meant that I love you.” 

“You love me?” Nicole asked, her voice full of disbelief. 

“Yes, I’m in love with you.” 

Nicole looked up from her fidgeting and locked eyes with her beautiful girlfriend, as if she was checking to make sure Waverly wasn’t joking. She wasn’t. Nicole broke into the biggest smile of her life. “I’m in love with you, too.” 

Waverly set her coffee down on the bedside table nearest her, before pulling her girlfriend into a series of passionate kisses. 

They broke after several minutes of nothing but kisses. Nicole tucked a rogue strand of hair back behind Waverly’s ear. The youngest Earp blushed under her girlfriend’s intense gaze of affection. “What?” She asked, made nervous from the palpable fondness. 

“How is it that you could drink as much as you did last night and be so casually reading a book at seven-thirty in the morning?” 

Waverly laughed, “I’m an Earp. It’s genetic.” 

Nicole laughed, “I wish that Haught’s had that gene. My head is killing me.” She looked down at her hand, she was fairly certain she had broken the base knuckle of her middle finger on Champ’s face. She probably shouldn’t have followed up that event with all of the late night activities she had had with Waverly. She should have maybe switched hands. Her smile was locked in place despite the throb in her head and the throb in her hand. She plucked the handcuffs off her bedside table. 

Waverly noticed her girlfriend’s hand then, “Love, your hand!” She gently took her girlfriend’s hand into hers and studied the swelling and bruising. Calling someone love was still foreign to her, she had never done that before, Champ had never been the breathing form of love, so that had never even come to mind. 

Nicole blushed at the attention and the softness with which Waverly studied her damaged appendage. “It’s okay, I probably shouldn’t have punched your ex in the face. I guess that’s what I get for an elevated sense of chivalry and hyper protective nature.” 

“Do you have an ice pack in the freezer, I’ll go get it for you? Aspirin anywhere? I’m sorry that your hand got hurt while protecting me.” Waverly tenderly kissed her girlfriend’s knuckle. “But thank you. Your the first person to ever enter into my life to protect me like that.” 

“Really? I figured boy-man would have been the fight to prove his love type.” Nicole ducked her head, “I was actually a little worried that I would have upset you by reacting in the same way, but when he stepped towards you like that, I mean I couldn’t let him…” 

“No, Champ liked to just try to mark his territory with aggressive pda. It was… unfortunate. I’m not mad Nicole. You’re ummm… kind of…” Waverly got nervous, she had already confessed her love to this woman, she didn’t want to follow it up by crying about her past. “You’re just kind of all the things I’ve never had but always wanted.” 

The redhead leaned in kissed her girlfriend on the cheek. “Even with my busted up hand?” She kind of giggled at her predicament, hoping to lighten the pain that tugged around the corner of her girlfriend’s eyes without making the pain spill over. 

Waverly snorted, not suspecting her officer to make a joke, “Yes, even in your current state. Now where do you keep the aspirin?” 

“The medicine cabinet in the bathroom.” 

The younger woman deliberately crawled over the other to get out of bed and added a little extra sway to her hips as she made her way to the bathroom, knowing full well that her girlfriend watched her as she went. She returned to the bed with three aspirin and then plucked Nicole’s work shirt off the ground and buttoned just enough buttons to cover everything before sneaking out of the bedroom to grab an ice pack from the freezer. 

When she spun around, Hailey was walking into the kitchen. Waverly’s eyes bulged, she had not expected to run into anybody. The shirt was really more to mess with Nicole than anything. She tugged at the hem of it, willing it to cover more of her butt. 

“Morning.” Hailey mumbled. 

“Hey, how are you feeling this morning?” 

Hailey took in Waverly’s outfit, or lack thereof, “not as jolly as you.” She giggled then immediately reached for her head. “Seriously, does your head not hurt right now?” 

Waverly shook her head no, “sorry, it’s an Earp thing.” 

“The ice pack for ‘Cole?” 

“Yeah, her hand. I think she might have broken it on my ex’s face.” Waverly blushed, “hey thanks for having my back on that by the way. That wasn’t y’all’s fight and you literally backed me up.” 

Hailey smiled, “of course, Waves. I’m pretty sure you’re already family.” She winked and took the ice pack from Waverly’s hands, “my head hurts worse than her hand.” 

Waverly giggled, feeling so much joy at that moment. “There are a few more ice packs in the freezer. Is she clumsy, or is this like a cop thing?” 

Hailey shrugged, “both, but I’ll just let you experience the clumsy for yourself.” She grinned and headed back to the make shift guest bedroom. 

Waverly smiled at the thought of a clumsy Nicole. She closed the bedroom door and leaned her back against it. 

“What?” Nicole grinned at the look of bliss on Waverly’s face. 

“Your sister said she was pretty sure I was already part of your family.” 

Nicole beamed, “yeah. Last night while you were upstairs changing at the homestead and repacking, she suggested that we introduce you to my parents via Skype while they’re here.” 

Waverly’s mouth dropped. “Do you… do you want to do that?” 

Nicole bit her bottom lip. “I mean, as you know, no one in my family has ever met anyone, but I love you, and I you already kind of have joined the family.” She smiled, so thankful that Hailey had been so wonderful during all of this, “So, yeah. If you want to, I think I would love for you to meet them.” 

“Well, I guess I should shower and get myself camera ready.” 

Nicole smiled, “I think you should come kiss me first.” 

“I think you should come shower with me.” Waverly raised an eyebrow and started unbuttoning her girlfriend’s uniform. Laughing as Nicole sprung off the bed to follow her into the bathroom.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waverly meets Nicole's parents. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a big time jump in this one to catch it back up chronologically with the show. So this goes from coffee shop time up through current and then a little beyond. This is probably actually the end of this one. I've got more that I'm writing going for WayHaught, so don't worry, but I finally feel satisfied with the ending with this particular story. 
> 
> Note that has nothing to do with this story: I got to meet Dom, Kat, and Emily at ClexaCon and holllllyyyy shit are we lucky. They are just genuinely the greatest gifts I could have been given as a fangirl. And if I got to meet you, you were also lovely, because Earpers are the freaking best.

Waverly was nervous. She had met Champ’s parents but she had been sixteen, and at the time, had had no idea that she’d end up being with Champ for years. She had definitely not slept with him yet, and hadn’t even intended to yet. This was completely different. She had already slept with Nicole, was already in love with Nicole, they had already said that they were in love with each other, and now she was about to meet her parents. 

Nicole was blow drying her hair. She hadn’t skyped her parents in too long, and she wanted to look as good and as happy as she felt. She was glad Hailey and Tom were there, it was going to be a whole big group chat, so hopefully only a little bit of the attention would be on her and Waverly. 

Nicole’s parents knew that she was gay, and thanks to Hailey, they knew that she had a girlfriend named Waverly, but Nicole had never done this before and she was more than a little bit nervous. Waverly was wonderful, they were going to love her. And Nicole knew that, but this was going to make it all very real for her parents in a way they had never experienced before. Their daughter was a lesbian, with a girlfriend, it was no longer just a concept, it was real, and Nicole was worried she’d be rejected over it. It was a ridiculous fear, Hailey had been amazing, and her parents would definitely never be rude to Waverly’s face, or to Nicole’s about the situation, but she was worried nonetheless. 

Waverly put on just a little bit of makeup, following her plan to get ‘camera ready.’ She could tell how nervous Nicole was, so she was determined to come across as nothing but confident and excited. “What are their names again? I know you’ve told me, but I really don’t want to get it wrong. Or would you prefer me to address them as Mr. and Mrs. Haught?” 

Nicole frowned, she hadn’t thought about that. “Tom calls them Mark and Judy, so I guess you should call them that?” She bit her lip nervously. 

“I’ll start with Mr. and Mrs. Haught.” Waverly beamed, “I don’t want them to know I was practically raised in a barn.” She leaned over and kissed Nicole’s cheek. “This is going to be great, I’m so excited.” She kissed Nicole’s check again, bring a little color back to Nicole’s cheeks, “which parent do you take after more?” 

Nicole grinned at that, “I look more like our dad, I think. It’s the dimples. Hailey looks more like our mom, she’s got the McKenzie eyes and nose.” 

“McKenzie?” Waverly grinned, she was getting to learn some of Nicole’s family history. Being the history buff she was, she was more than a little excited. It looked like she was going to need to extend her knowledge to Scotland as well as Ireland. 

Nicole nodded, she was taken aback by how excited Waverly was to learn more about her. “Yeah, my mom’s maiden name is McKenzie.” 

“That’s cool. So you’re Scottish and Irish?” 

Nicole grinned, “and thus really pale and the whole red hair thing.” 

“And the freckles,” Waverly beamed. 

“Freckles?” Nicole looked closer at herself in the mirror, “I don’t have very many freckles.” 

“You do on your back.” Waverly winked at her. 

Nicole blushed, all her nerves settled in that moment. There was no way this could crash and burn. Waverly was amazing. Her parents would be able to see that immediately, just like her sister had. “Okay, let’s go do this. My parents are going to love you. Because I love you. And you’re kind of perfect.” 

Waverly chuckled, “I love you, too.” 

Hailey was setting up the laptop on the coffee table when Nicole and Waverly emerged from Nicole’s room. She smiled at them, “Okay, so I figure you two can sit on the ground in front of us, and Tom and I can sit on the couch!” 

“Okay, sounds good to me.” Waverly grabbed Nicole’s hand, feeling her tension building next to her. 

Nicole was nervous again, this was about to be it. Hailey and Tom took their places behind Waverly and Nicole, and Hailey sent a text message off to their parents. Waverly rested her hand on Nicole’s thigh under the coffee table, squeezing reassuringly. 

The screen started chiming, indicating a phone call. Nicole took a deep breath and clicked accept. Nicole’s parents were adorable. They were both grinning from ear to ear. Nicole had been right, she did look more like her dad. There were the deep set dimples and the chocolate brown eyes and the perfect nose. She and Hailey both had their mom’s cheek bones and hair, but there were the piercing blue eyes that Hailey had. Waverly smiled as she noticed all of the traits shared between the family. 

“Hello!” The Haught parents yelled in unison. 

“Hi!” Hailey and Tom were quick to respond. 

Waverly was smiling nervously and Nicole looked like a deer in the headlights. 

Hailey squeezed Nicole’s shoulder for encouragement. Nicole took another deep breath, “Mom, dad, this is Waverly Earp… My uhhh… my… well, she’s my girlfriend.” She looked anywhere, but at the screen, nervous to see their reaction. 

Waverly squeezed Nicole’s thigh again, proud of her for making it through the part Waverly knew she was most worried about. Waverly smiled her most genuine smile, the one she had started to save only for Nicole. She waved at her girlfriend’s parents. She wasn’t nervous anymore, Nicole’s parents were clearly too happy to be meeting her to react negatively. “Hi Mr. and Mrs. Haught. It’s nice to meet you.” 

Mrs. Haught practically bounced in her seat, “Aw ‘Cole, she’s beautiful!” 

“It’s lovely to meet you too, Waverly, but please call us Mark and Judy.” 

Nicole grinned, nervously and looked back at the screen. Her parents were so happy to see her, to see them. 

“So, Waverly, Hailey tells us you’re really interested in History and dead languages, is that true?” 

Waverly nodded emphatically, “it’s because of my family. I know just about everything to know about my ancestry, but I think I’m getting ready to start branching out, learning about more than just the Earp’s.” 

“So it is like Wyatt Earp!” Mark got really excited about that. “Are you a great shot, too?” 

“She’s pretty dangerous with rifles.” Nicole giggled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with a pistol, that’s your sister.” 

“You have a sister?” Judy asked, wanting to learn more about her daughter’s beautiful girlfriend. 

“Yes, ma’am. I have an older sister named Wynonna.” 

“Mom you would love Wynonna, she’s such a badass!” Hailey chimed in. 

“Oh? You’ve gotten to meet her?” Mark asked, clearly pleased that Nicole had let Hailey so far into her life during this trip. 

“Oh yeah, we met Wynonna and Waverly’s Aunt and some of their friends. Nicole has come to such a cute little town.” Hailey was so genuinely happy for Nicole she thought her heart would bust. 

“I know that Hailey and I offered to host Thanksgiving this year,” Tom started, “But, if Nicole wouldn’t mind, I would actually like to come here. I was thinking it would be cool to do like a joint family gathering. If anyone else is interested. Not trying to impose Nicole, I just thought it might make it easier on Waverly if she didn’t have to separate from her family to be with ours for the holiday.” 

Waverly’s eyes watered. She had never had a big family holiday, and the fact that Tom would want to include her and her family like that touched her greatly. 

Nicole’s eyes widened and she spun to look at her brother-in-law, “Tom, that’s a great idea!” She turned back to the screen, “I know it would be a farther trip for y’all, but would you want to?” 

“Absolutely!” Her dad said. “I think that’s a perfect idea.” 

Nicole leaned over and kissed Waverly on the cheek, she couldn’t help herself. She was too happy in that moment to not. As soon as she did, her heart stopped, what if that was too much? Waverly blushed and nervously fidgeted. 

Nicole’s mom just chuckled, she hadn’t seen Nicole this happy in years, maybe ever. She was so thankful that Nicole had found someone as cute, happy, and according to Hailey, as brilliant as Waverly. 

“Well that’s not too far away. Hailey when you get back, will you help your dad and me book our tickets and hotel?” 

“Oh no, you can’t stay at the motel here.” Waverly shook her head, “y’all can stay here at Nicole’s and Nicole can stay at the Homestead with me and Wynonna.” Waverly offered, she looked around, “The homestead is actually bigger, do you want to host it there?” 

Nicole looked around her apartment assessing the situation, doing her best to not blush too hard at the fact that Waverly just said she could sleep over, “Yeah, is that okay? That would be great. Y’all’s dining room table would actually hold all of us.” 

Hailey nodded, “I can come a little early and help you get all set up, Waves.” 

Waverly smiled, “That would be awesome! I’ve never done a real Thanksgiving.” 

“Perfect.” Nicole beamed at her parents, “we have a plan!” *** 

Nicole’s arm was asleep when she woke up. Waverly was breathing gently into her neck, still soundly asleep. They had been together for a few months now and Nicole’s heart still pounded every morning at the sight of her beautiful girlfriend. She had been staying at the Earp homestead a lot recently. Since being let in on the curse, joining the Black Badge Division, and helping save Waverly from black goo, it had just made more sense for Nicole to sleep over where it was safer for Waverly. It had taken a while for Waverly to go completely back to normal after the goo touching, but her smiles had started to reach her eyes again, and she had gotten back into the habit of sleeping through the night. 

Nicole had all but moved in with the Earp sisters. She really only kept paying rent because Waverly hadn’t asked her to move in she just asked her to stay every night, and all things considered, she didn’t want to ever seemingly pressure her girlfriend about anything. Ever. Even waking her up and getting her off her tingling arm. Nicole just didn’t have the heart to do it. So, she laid in bed and gently ran her fingers through her girlfriend’s long honey brown hair. Waverly twitched at the initial contact, but settled deeper into Nicole’s shoulder as the extra affection soothed her subconsciously. 

They stayed like this for some time. Nicole still had hours to go before her parents plane would land, so she was in no rush to wake her beautiful girlfriend. She was just enjoying the calm of the morning and the feel of her girlfriend curled half on top of her. The smaller woman stirred, moaning gently, coming out of the depths of her sleep. 

Waverly was precious when she just woke up. She would rub the sleep out of her eyes and yawn and tuck herself even tighter into Nicole. This morning was no different. “Hey, love.” Nicole whispered. Tucking Waverly’s hair back, behind her ears. 

A smile tugged at the corners of Waverly’s lips. She was finally feeling back to normal, back to sane and she, for the first time in a long time, had just had a very dirty dream about one very sexy officer. 

Waverly slid her hand up under Nicole’s sleep shirt. It had been far too long since she had touched her girlfriend. After the goo touching and subsequent drama, Waverly had had a rough couple of months mentally. Nicole had been nothing short of perfect. She had been patient and had never pushed for anything, but she had stayed every night with the younger woman. Despite Waverly’s nightmares and startled awakenings, despite the younger woman sweating through the night and thrashing, every night when Waverly asked Nicole to stay the tall officer would go out to her car and grab a duffle bag that she would pack every day, just in case, before feeding her cat and heading to pick Waverly up from the end of her shift. Nicole never packed more than a night’s worth of clothing. She never wanted to impose on the Earp sisters. She wouldn’t even bring her bag inside until Waverly would ask her to stay. And of course Waverly wanted her to stay. The younger Earp never wanted her to leave. She wanted her to stay forever and move her cute cat in too, but she had gone so far off the deep end, she was actually a little worried that that request might be too much for her girlfriend. So Waverly wanted to wait until she had proved that she wasn’t drowning anymore. That she was far enough past it to be worth being with. And currently, she really just wanted to make her loving and wonderful girlfriend feel really good. 

Nicole’s skin was soft and smooth. She twitched at Waverly’s hand as it creeped higher up her sleep shirt. She didn’t want to stop the younger woman, but despite her body’s immediate reaction, she knew she needed to check in with her girlfriend and make sure everything was okay. “Baby?” Her voice was higher than normal as Waverly’s finger tips traced across her breast. 

“Hmmm?” Waverly leaned up just enough so that she could look into Nicole’s chocolate brown eyes. She smiled gently at the concern she saw in her girlfriend’s eyes. Champ would never have gone a few months with only cuddling and then stop her the first time she went for it. Nicole Haught was her own brand of brilliant. 

Nicole licked her lips, Waverly’s fingertips teasing her nipple felt amazing. She had flooded her boxers immediately, but she really didn’t Waverly to be doing this for any other reason other than desire. 

Waverly raked her nails down Nicole’s taught abs. The young officer caught her breath. “Waves, what… uhhh.. what are you doing?” The younger woman was tracing along the waistband of the officer’s boxers. 

Waverly propped herself up on one elbow. “I miss touching you.” She bit her lip, embarrassed, “I’m sorry it’s been a while. I just… I want to ummm… I want to taste you. If that’s okay.” Waverly blushed. She had gotten to be rather forward with Nicole, with what she wanted and what she wanted to do, but she had gotten a bit out of practice. “I don’t want to feel this weight anymore, this darkness. We beat it. It’s out of me. I want to be happy. I want you. I want us. And I know I’m going to have to prove that and I know I won’t be perfect everyday, but I’m going to and I want to start right now. I want to start with making you feel good.” 

A deeper smile crossed Nicole’s face than one had in a while. “I love you, Waverly Earp. I never stopped. But… I am really glad that you want to be happy again. And as for touching me…. well, love, I am all yours.” 

Waverly’s hand dipped below Nicole’s waist band and slid through the Officer’s slick wet heat. Waverly moaned at how wet Nicole was, Nicole moaned at how good the contact felt. It wasn’t enough for the tiny Earp though, so she quickly pulled her girlfriend’s boxers off and settled herself in between her legs, losing herself to the taste and sounds of the redhead’s pleasure. 

*** 

The fall air tore through the rockies and nipped at Waverly’s hands. She stood on her front porch, leaned against the railing, sipping her beer and waiting for Nicole to drive up with her parents. Waverly could hear Hailey and Wynonna clanging around in the kitchen. The thought of the two of them tending to the turkey made her smile. 

Wynonna had pinky promised her little sister that she would behave. Meaning that she wouldn’t get too drunk and she wouldn't embarrass Waverly or Nicole past the point of no return. Wynonna had already embarrassed Nicole enough for one day. After they had finally emerged from Waverly’s bedroom, way later than normal, way more disheveled than normal, and after—as Wynonna had put it—“hours of long and gratuitous sex noises,” the eldest Earp had congratulated her sister’s girlfriend for finally breaking Waverly out of her funk with a nice long sexathon. Had it just been in front of Nicole, it would have been one thing, but Nicole had just gotten back from picking up her sister and Tom from her apartment in town. Hailey had added to the ribbing. At that point Waverly had threatened to whip out her 12 gauge on the both of them. Nicole had just blushed and smiled, her day had gone far too well for Wynonna and her sister to mess it up. 

Waverly’s lips twitched into a smile when she heard the the rumble of Nicole’s truck a little ways off. She leaned back into the house, “look alive people, the Haught’s have arrived.” 

Wynonna pulled her apron off. She knew how much this all meant to Waverly, how much Waves needed this to go perfectly. Doc, Dolls, and Tom all stood from their seats on the couch and straightened themselves, they were nervous for Waverly’s sake. But they knew what a great job she had done to get ready for today. She had enlisted Doc’s help for a lot of the serious renovations: repainting the exterior of the homestead and a few rooms within, she had switched out all the couch pillows to fall season appropriate colors, she had switched out her rugs and handmade a wreath for the door. She’d gotten new placemats and a new tableware and stocked up on every drink and mixer imaginable, just to be sure. 

Gus walked out on the porch to wait with Waverly, “you did a great job kiddo. Everything looks perfect.” 

“You think?” Waverly hadn’t taken her eyes off of Nicole’s rapidly approaching truck. 

“I know.” Gus put her hand on Waverly’s arm, “I am so proud of you.” She smiled, “for being true to who you are and for being brave and strong and ready to meet the rest of the Haught’s, and for doing all this after all the struggling these past few months. Curtis would be so proud of you.” 

Waverly smiled a warm and happy smile. For as rough as her upbringing had been, she could not even begin to imagine her life without Gus. She nuzzled her shoulder against her Aunt’s as a sign of thanks. 

Nicole pulled up to the homestead grinning from ear to ear. She had just had the best two hour car ride with her parents she could have ever hoped for, and couldn’t wait to enjoy Waverly’s efforts with everyone. The young officer hopped out of the front seat of her truck and lead the way to the porch. They had stopped off at her apartment and had dropped off their bags and freshened up already. 

The tall redhead bounded up the porch steps and placed a quick kiss to Waverly’s cheek before wrapping a protective arm around her waist. “Mom, dad, I’d like for you to officially meet Waverly.” Nicole was smiling so hard her dimples were caverns. 

Her parents immediately enveloped the two of the young women into a large group hug. “It’s so nice to meet you for real, Waverly.” Mark beamed. 

“You’re even cuter in person.” Judy was practically bouncing. 

Waverly blushed, “I’m so glad your flight went okay! This is my Aunt Gus, she raised me.” 

Gus shook hands with Mark and was roped into a hug by Judy. She couldn’t help but smile at the woman’s exuberance. 

“Come on in, let me introduce you to my sister and our little band of friends.” The younger Earp lead them into the house. “This is Xavier Dolls, we call him Dolls, this is Doc, and this…” Waverly gestured to at her sister, “is Wynonna.” 

The Haught’s both shook hands with the two friends and Wynonna and exchanged hugs with Tom and Hailey. They were so pleased at how comfortable Hailey was in an apron and stirring dressing in the Earp’s kitchen. 

“Y’all’s house is so cute!” Judy exclaimed. 

Waverly blushed, she had been a little nervous about them all being here. Despite the repairs she and Doc had made, it wasn’t exactly upscale. “Would you like a tour?” 

Wynonna cringed, “maybe don’t show them my room… I didn’t do… well really any of the things that you asked me to do.” 

Doc chuckled at the quick look Waverly threw her older sister, before melting back into a warm smile for her girlfriend’s parents. Wynonna was going to get her ass kicked later. “We’ll just skip that stop.” She said still chipper. 

When she was done with the tour and had mixed the Haught’s all the drinks of their choice, Waverly settled into the couch cushion next to Nicole’s. She casually rested her hand on Nicole’s leg. With all that had happened in the past few months, she had gotten a lot of reassurance and comfort from simple and constant contact with her girlfriend, and now, being as nervous as she was, all she wanted was to snuggle into her girlfriend’s lap, but her hand on Nicole’s leg would have to do. 

Nicole quickly assessed the room’s reaction to Waverly’s hand before throwing her arm over the younger woman’s shoulder. She could tell she was nervous, she could feel the energy coming off of her and she knew the more contact, the better. Her parents were busy getting to know all of her friends and catching up with Tom and Hailey and showed no sign of disturbance by the simple affection shared between their daughter and her adorable girlfriend. 

A timer dinged in the kitchen. “I’ve got to check the turkey,” Waverly said as she popped up from her seat. “Does anybody need anything? Refills?” 

“I’ll come help you.” Judy said with a smile. 

Waverly swallowed nervously, “sure, yeah! That’d be great.” They rounded the corner into the kitchen, “did you have a nice flight?” 

“Yes, we did.” Just was smiling kindly. 

Waverly quickly pulled the turkey out of the oven, and started check various parts of the bird with a meat thermometer. 

“Waverly.” Judy said, though it was more a question than anything. 

Waverly stopped what she was doing and looked at Judy, “yes, ma’am?” She was nervous, what if Judy told her they hated her? 

“I just wanted to thank you.” 

“For what?” Waverly was very confused. 

“For giving us our ‘Cole back. She used to be so happy, and then all of the sudden it changed and she was so reserved and guarded. Mark and I had no idea what had happened. But she’s changed, she’s back to being as happy as she used to be. I don’t know if she ever stopped being happy, but she had stopped sharing her happiness with us, and that’s back now. And I can’t thank you enough.” 

Waverly was stunned. She blinked a few times. “She did the same for me.” It was more of a whisper. “I don’t know what all she’s told you, or what all you’ve deduced from meeting my Aunt who raised me, but I haven’t had the easiest go of things. Especially recently, but she’s just honestly the best thing to ever happen to me. So, I guess thank you? Because you have an amazing daughter.” Waverly blushed. She hoped Nicole wouldn’t be embarrassed by her conversation with her mother. But if Judy was going to thank her, then she was going to thank her back for the gift that Officer Haught truly was. 

Judy squeezed Waverly’s forearm affectionately. “Well, dinner smells delicious.” Judy winked and headed back into the living room. 

When Waverly made it back into the living room she settled back into Nicole’s side and softly kissed her cheek. Nicole blushed, “everything good in the kitchen?” She whispered in Waverly’s ear. Waverly grinned and nodded, wrapping her beautiful girlfriend’s free hand up in both of her own. 

*** 

The evening was going perfectly according to plan until Nicole got a phone call, “Haught here.” Her face scrunched to a frown. “Okay. Yes, I understand. No I haven’t been drinking. Yes, we can all be right there.” 

The youngest Earp’s smile faded. It was going to involve all of them. All of the people she loved and she was going to be left here alone with Nicole’s whole family. 

Nicole looked at Dolls. She was still getting used to being part of the Black Badge team. Dolls had yet to officially make her an agent, but she just assumed that was so she could act as a liaison between Dolls and PPD. Since the day she had helped save Wynonna from the Bobo poison, she had been invited on all the missions, he had even welcomed her to the team, but he had never made it official to his superiors. It had annoyed Nicole for a few days, but when she realized that he was including her on everything important, she stopped caring and had just started enjoying the action. She knew how much it stressed Waverly out, though. Her two most important people in the world going on mission after mission together. 

“Alright team, that was Nedley. It shouldn’t take up too much of our evening. Just one of Bobo’s crew wrecking havoc outside of Shorties. And don’t worry Gus, according to Nedley the damage has all been done to cars, not your business.” 

“Part of the same group of idiots?” Wynonna asked. 

Nicole just nodded, “I guess I should go change into my uniform.” Nicole grimaced, she knew how much this meant to Waverly, and she was about to get left with her family. Even Gus got up to go with the black badge team to check on the bar. Nicole trudged upstairs to Waverly’s room. She was glad she had thought to pack her uniform, just in case. 

Nicole zipped up her khaki work pants. She heard a small knock on Waverly’s bedroom door. She opened it to see her beautiful girlfriend bouncing nervously on the other side. “You know, love, this is your bedroom. You don’t have to knock.” She smiled her dimpled smile. Waverly grinned, but it quickly faded, “hey, I know Wyn said that it was going to be a simple put down, but you’re going to wear your vest right?” 

“Hey,” Nicole pulled Waverly into the room and kissed her. It wasn’t a rough kiss, but it was firm. She broke the kiss, but stayed close to Waverly, taking comfort in the simple intimacy. “Everything is going to be okay. Look, I’ve got my vest all ready to go and I’m going to have your sister and the whole team there with me, and we got this. I’m sorry that I’m leaving you with my entire family though.” Nicole was still grinning at her with her charming smile, easing any fears or stress behind Waverly’s hazel eyes. 

“Yeah, you kind of owe me one, I’d think.” 

“Is that so?” Nicole raised an eyebrow. 

“Yes, you owe me one…” Waverly bit her bottom lip mischievously, “per Haught that you’re leaving me with.” 

Nicole’s eyebrow quirked up. She had missed flirty Waverly and she was beyond thankful she was finally back. “So what do I owe you four of?” 

Waverly spun heading back to the door, swaying her hips way more than necessary, “oh, I’m sure you can think of something I’d enjoy four of.” She cast her head back over her shoulder and winked at her very sexy girlfriend before heading back downstairs. 

*** 

When the Black Badge crew walked back in through the door, Nicole was greeted by the sight of her family laughing hysterically at something her girlfriend had said over a game of Scrabble. Nicole’s heart immediately melted, she had warned them to not play Scrabble with Waverly, that it brought out her most competitive side, and that she’d play words in multiple languages. 

Waverly’s eyes caught Nicole’s, her tall girlfriend was standing in the doorway the hint of smile playing at her lips but something much deeper twinkling in her chocolate brown eyes. The younger Earp popped up from the table and launched herself at her girlfriend. “You’re home!” She wrapped her arms around Nicole’s neck. 

It wasn’t gratuitous by any means, it was literally a hug from her girlfriend after she had responded to a call, but Nicole was incredibly nervous about the fact that Waverly had said ‘you’re home.’ She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend’s tiny waist. The call hadn’t been dangerous or difficult, just a drunk revenant asking for trouble. All of them going hadn’t been necessary at all. They had actually been worried that it was a set up, but it turned out to just be a lonely, drunk revenant trying to pick a fight. It had all been over in a matter of minutes. 

Waverly released her grip from around Nicole’s neck and drug her inside towards the table. “Are Wyn and the boys back too?” 

“They’re filling out reports at the station, they’ll be back in no time. Dolls said that we could start dessert, but I see that y’all have a pretty serious game going on here.” 

“Yes, your girlfriend here is handing us our asses in Scrabble.” Nicole’s dad beamed at her, “you were right, she’s too brilliant with words to play this game with.” 

Waverly shot a look at Nicole, “you told them to not play Scrabble with me? That’s just rude.” 

Hailey laughed, “oh, we warned them to also not play against you in pool.” 

“I think it’s safe to say trivial pursuit would be another one to throw out there, even though I’ve never played it with you.” Tom smiled warmly, “although it would be fun to see someone actually win that game.” 

“Well, thank you for playing against me despite the advisement.” Waverly was blushing, embarrassed that Tom and Hailey had talked about her with Nicole’s parents. She wondered what else they had told them. She hoped they hadn’t mentioned Champ or catching both her and Nicole in the kitchen. 

“Well, I wanted to see if you were as brilliant as you seem via Skype.” Nicole’s dad said while laying down the word ‘speed.’ 

“Oh, yes! Thank you, Mark.” Waverly exclaimed while laying down Q-U-I-Z-blank-E-S to attach to the end of it. “That’s a bingo on quizzes, I hit the triple word score, and then the letter count for ‘speeds.’” Waverly beamed. 

“She is as brilliant as she seems.” Hailey said with a laugh. 

“How’d your mission go, ‘Cole?” Her mom asked. She had been nervous, but Waverly had been very reassuring. 

“It was a routine pickup. It was very boring, to be honest. We definitely didn’t all need to go, but it’s always best to take as much back up as possible when dealing with the remainders of Bobo’s gang.” They had all agreed on the story they were going to tell the Haught’s after they had put the revenant down. “We did get there just in time to keep him from throwing a chair through the front window of Shorty’s though, so Gus was pleased. She should be here any minute, she just wanted to call a few locals and be the one to tell them that their windshields had gotten smashed in.” 

Waverly shook her head, Wynonna was tearing through the seventy-seven revenants faster than ever now that Bobo was done and they were all disorganized. She hoped that it would stay this way and that a new leader wouldn’t step up and try to plan something. “Well, I’m glad everyone is okay,” Waverly said with a smile. 

“I’m going to go get back into Thanksgiving mode while Waverly finishes mopping the floor with all of you.” 

The Haught’s just laughed, knowing full well that they had no hope at this point. When Nicole headed up the stairs and Waverly’s eyes followed her like a puppy who hadn’t been greeted properly. 

“Waves,” Hailey said snapping Waverly’s attention back to the game. 

“What? Is it already my turn again?” 

The Haught’s all laughed again. 

“No,” Hailey smiled, “I was going to tell you it’s okay to go give her a kiss, you don’t have to play hostess, although you are doing a lovely job.” 

Waverly blushed and ducked her head, but she quickly got up and took off up the stairs. She opened the door to a shirtless Nicole. Waverly’s mouth watered. There was something magical about seeing Nicole Haught in a sports bra boxer briefs. Waverly grinned at her. “Hey.” 

Nicole raised an eyebrow, “hey?” 

“Your sister told me to come kiss you. Apparently I had lost focus entirely after watching you walk up the stairs.” 

Nicole blushed, “oh no.” 

“It’s fine, your parents seem to really like me. They’re pretty amazing.” Waverly was beaming. 

“Oh yeah?” 

“Yep.” Waverly bit her bottom lip, “I’m supposed to kiss you now.” 

Nicole crossed the small space between them and captured Waverly’s lips in her own. When they broke Waverly was nothing but smiles, finally carefree. “I’m glad you’re home.” 

“You keep using that word.” Nicole said, she couldn’t help it. 

Waverly nodded, she had wanted to wait. At least until she had proved to Nicole that she was back to being one-hundred percent, but she also wanted to have her for more than just a night at a time. “Yeah, what if maybe you brought over some more of your things and I clear out a couple of drawers for you? I could make some room in the closet. You can bring Calamity! You don’t have to move everything if it’s all too soon, but it’d be nice. I’d like it, if we made this space more ours and less mine.” Waverly twisted her hands around and around waiting for Nicole to respond. 

Nicole’s dimples cut through her stunned expression. “I would love to. I am worried that my cat will kill your sister though.” She laughed. 

“At the moment, I’d let her.” Waverly smiled back, still a little feisty about her sister not cleaning her room at all before the Haught’s got there. Waverly ran her fingertips down Nicole’s abs, “okay, I’m going to get back down there so they don’t think we’re up to something.” She placed a quick kiss to Nicole’s lips before heading back down stairs. 

*** 

“So, how’d you meet her?” Nicole’s mom asked her as she drove her whole family back to her apartment later that night, she had borrowed Waverly’s Jeep so they’d all fit in one go. 

“Well, I saw her first at the Sheriff’s Station, but I went into Shorty’s to meet her.” 

“Did you go intentionally to meet her?” Hailey chimed in. Nicole was nervous, this was a first for her. They hadn’t grilled her until just now. Not even Hailey. Up until now, they had just wanted to know about Waverly, this was the first time they had started asking about their relationship. 

Nicole blushed at the question, “yep, I went in to meet her. Couldn’t have timed it out any better, either.” She giggled, “she had just had a tap blow up on her and I got caught in her shirt, it was a whole thing that I think only Waverly could have managed. I helped her out of her shirt and left her my number.” 

Tom started to laugh, “now that’s an introduction.” 

“And how did you ask her out?” Her mom continued wanting to know more about her daughter’s life with such a wonderful young woman. “Or, I guess, did she ask you out?” 

“Well we had interacted around the station because she does consulting work for Dolls, and then I had flirted with her a few more times at Shorty’s, so one day I asked if she wanted to get some coffee.” 

“And then…” Nicole’s mom wanted the whole story. 

Nicole laughed, “and then we talked until the coffee shop closed. Our first nice date though, we got all dressed up and I took her into the city to a really fancy restaurant.” 

“Your first kiss?” Hailey asked. 

“Was magical.” Nicole responded, without even thinking. 

“Your first I love you?” Nicole’s dad asked, much to everyone’s surprise. 

“She said it first.” Nicole bit her bottom lip, fighting the huge smile that was glued to her face. 

“She’s a keeper.” Nicole’s mom said, reaching up and patting her on the shoulder. 

“Yep, we’re huge fans.” Nicole’s dad said from the seat next to her. “So, who asks who?” 

“What do you mean?” Nicole asked, lost. 

“To marry the other. Are you going to ask? Is she? Have y’all talked about that?” 

“Nicole blushed, “oh my God. I don’t know.” Nicole paused, reviling in the moment of sharing with her family, “she did tell me to start bringing more stuff over there though, she's going to clear out drawer space and some closet space and she wants me to move Calamity over too.” 

“What?? Nicole that’s awesome!” Hailey said. 

“I know.” Nicole laughed. 

Her dad waited until the rest of the car had gone into talking about how cute the little town of Purgatory is before saying to his oldest daughter, “I’m glad you found your happily ever after, Nicole. I can’t wait to watch you live it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for coming along for the ride...This little One-Shot that went on and on meant a lot to me in getting me back into writing and I can't thank you enough for following along! Also, I can't wait to share more of what I've been working on. :) Feel free to tweet at me @EKHWanders or comment if you want something different/more/or just want to say hey!


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, this is a never ending story... here's a proposal for you. Thanks for asking if I'd consider one, EveNTales. Consider it considered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... EveNTales asked if I'd consider a proposal... when I read that, one immediately popped into my mind. I figured I better write it, or I wouldn't be able to focus on anything else I'm working on. So... whoops. I guess I should stop assuming I'm done here. I hope you enjoy it, I took it back to beginning a bit. 

Waverly Earp paced nervously in her newly renovated bedroom. Redoing the entire upstairs of the Homestead was long over due, but after Willa’s death, Wynonna had been reluctant to dismantle her belongings, her memories, the last of who she had been. At least who she had been before. It had taken two years, and a lot of patience and understanding before Wynonna would agree to let Waverly and Nicole take down all of her things and knock down some walls and turn the upstairs into their own space. 

Wynonna had known the happy young couple had been through more than enough and deserved a space of their own, but after pulling the trigger herself, on yet another family member, the now eldest Earp hadn’t been ready to let go of the times that once were. She had agreed on the day that Waverly had said that she and Nicole were going to have to move out. She had said they needed more space, their own living room, their own master bedroom, their own walk in closet. Wynonna had immediately said no, that they had to stay, that she wasn’t going to lose her little sister too. That until all seventy-seven revenants were dead, she had to stay on the homestead. They were well over half-way done with the demon band of outlaws, but they were having a particularly hard time tracking down the last fifteen or so and Wynonna wasn’t about to risk it. 

Renovations had begun that week. The entire upstairs was going to be redone, and they were going to add an extension to both floors that would add another two rooms to each top and bottom, essentially making the house two separate apartments, except for the kitchen and dinning room. Waverly had been adamant that they continued their tradition of eating together every evening. 

When the changes were complete, Wynonna had whined that it didn’t feel like the Homestead anymore. Waverly had just smiled at her and said that it finally felt like a home again, and not just a bank vault of dark memories. Wynonna hadn’t been able to argue with that, and she really really loved her new bedroom. She also loved the fact that they had put in a room for Doc on the bottom floor that opened to the outside so he had a place to call home. He had become quite the farmer and had fixed up their barn and property and with the help of Waverly, had planted an ample garden that they all ate from nightly. 

Now Wynonna watched her little sister pace nervously back and forth across her luscious dark grey area rug while she leaned back against Officer Haught’s wooden headboard. “Baby girl, you’re stressing me the hell out. What’s going on? Haught can’t have knocked you up, so what is it?” 

Waverly shook her hands awkwardly and exhaled nervously, “right, not pregnant. I want to… well I want to marry her.” 

Wynonna’s eyes narrowed, “does she know that?” 

“Well, yes. In the sense that we’ve said we’re going to get married one day and live happily ever after and have kids and we’ve argued over names and who’s last name we’re going to take and have picked out where we want to honeymoon, we just never really have gotten to talking about when.” 

“And you’re pacing nervously because?” Wynonna ate a powdered sugar donut that Waverly had lured her upstairs with. 

Waverly stopped pacing and spun to face her older sister. “I’m going to propose.” 

Wynonna’s eyes widened, “You? I figured Haughtshot would be the one to do that, and I’d get to tell her no when she came to ask me if she could. How can I say no if you’re the one to do it.” Wynonna smiled mischievously. 

“Dammit, Wynonna, not funny. Or helpful.” 

Wynonna just smiled a loving smile, “baby girl, why are you so nervous? You know she’s going to say yes.” 

“But I have to ask her parents.” 

“Her parents who love you, who have either come here or invited even me there for the past two and a half years worth of holidays and birthdays.” 

“Can you just… be here while I ask?” Waverly bit her lip nervously. 

“Nicole to marry you?” 

“No, me asking her parents if I can.” 

“I’m going to need something a bit stronger than a box of powdered sugar donuts.” 

Waverly quickly pulled a bottle of whiskey out from under her bed, she had been prepared for that, and passed it to her big sister. 

Wynonna smiled at her beautiful little sister. She couldn’t have been happier for Waverly. She had deserved the whole world and more, and she had found a partner who seemed to really think so too. “Alright, make the call.” Wynonna said before taking a generous swig straight from the bottle. 

Waverly hit the FaceTime button on her cell phone and waited anxiously for Judy to pick up. 

“Waverly, darling! What a pleasant surprise.” Judy was beaming at her. “Where’s ‘Cole?” 

Waverly bit her lip, “She’s at work.” 

Judy frowned, “is everything okay?” 

“What? Yes! Yes, ‘Cole’s fine. I just… well, I wanted to get your opinion on something, Mark’s too, if he’s there.” Waverly had gone back to pacing, hoping the rapidly changing background wouldn’t make either of the Haught’s motion sick. 

“Sure, hang on dear.” 

Wynonna gave Waverly a thumbs up from the bed and ate another donut in support. 

“Why hello, Waves.” Mark said. Judy had joined him on the Haught’s living room couch. “How are things? Did y’all finish the house?” 

“Hi, and yes we did! It looks amazing. I cannot wait for y’all to get to see it.” 

“Well, hopefully we can come up soon! But what can we do for you, honey?” He asked, Mark was a huge fan of Waverly. 

Waverly froze, “Uhhh… well… I kind of, oh goodness, I was hoping… no… I want to ask if I could…” 

“Waves, honey, what’s going on?” Judy asked, concerned. 

Waverly closed her eyes and just blurted out the question, “Can I marry your daughter?” She flinched, this had not been her most eloquent interaction with Nicole’s parents. 

Mark started to laugh, Waverly opened her eyes to see Mark smiling a dimpled smile, deeper set than Nicole’s even. Judy’s eyes had watered, and her hands had flown up to her mouth. They were both nodding yes, “of course!” Judy finally yelled. 

“Absolutely, kiddo.” Mark said, giving her two thumbs up. “We were just talking the other day, wondering when we’d have this conversation, but we honestly guessed it would be Nicole asking for advice as to how to ask.” 

Waverly’s eyes watered with relief, “really?” 

Judy dabbed at her eyes, “Well of course, you’ve been a part of this family, since Hailey and Tom came back, what over two years ago? How are you going to do it? Where?” 

“Well, our first date… it wasn’t really a date. It’s a really long story. I would say it ended up a date, but I don’t think I would say that it started as one, so I was thinking about trying to recreate a similar situation and then asking her for real.” 

“Oh, I love that!” Judy said, her expression mirroring her words. 

“Do you already have a ring?” Mark asked. 

Waverly blushed and nodded, “Yes, I got it last week.” 

“WHAT?” Wynonna mouthed from the bed. She was annoyed Waverly hadn’t showed her already. 

Waverly moved to her dresser and pulled out a pair of purple unicorn socks. She had stuffed the box inside the socks, knowing that Nicole would never try to wear them. She opened a small black box to reveal to them a beautiful black-gold banded diamond ring. The ring was beautiful and felt very Nicole, the main diamond that protruded from the band, was princess cut and elegant. 

Judy inhaled sharply, the ring was absolutely stunning. Mark nodded in approval. “You did good. She’s going to say yes. Call us when she does?” 

Waverly looked up from the ring, “well, I was kind of hoping you’d be there?” 

*** 

Waverly spent the next two months building a story of a new annoying faculty member hitting on her at the university she had ended up teaching at in the big city. She didn’t mind making the hour long drive every Tuesday and Thursday to be Professor Earp, teaching both American History and Latin. The money had been a huge step up from her earnings at Shorty’s and she was surrounded by books and academics and was getting to work on her PhD for free, as paid for by her school. The story she had built was that she had an annoying colleague who had tried to hit on her and to diffuse the situation, she had told him that she was already married. 

She told Nicole awkwardly the one day that for the faculty party that year at the end of the semester, they’d need to pretend to be already married. She waited nervously to see if Nicole would catch on to her plan, but Nicole didn’t. She had glared threateningly when Waverly had told her of an annoying co-worker, but had nodded emphatically when Waverly told her they needed to seem married for the evening. Honestly, Nicole didn’t think they’d need to act very differently. Really just add plain rings to their outfits, but Nicole was going to make sure she looked damn good to make a point. 

The thought of being Waverly’s wife made Nicole’s heart pound nervously. Secretly, she couldn’t wait, but she was afraid of rushing her young girlfriend, afraid of moving her towards something she wasn’t ready for. Waverly’s life had been a series of pain and loss, and Nicole didn’t want to add any pressure to rush through any happy moment she had with Waverly. But for one evening, Nicole was going to get to be Waverly’s wife, and she’d be dammed if she did this wrong. 

A few days before the party, Nicole went into town and bought a new dark gray suit and had it tailored specifically to fit her. She got a dark green button down to match the dress she knew her girlfriend was going to wear, and even purchased them matching white gold bands to complete the look. She had hoped that wasn’t too much, but she figured they would use them one day, and she didn’t want Waverly to have to worry about anything else. Waverly had won an award for being the best new professor and would have to give a speech. She had been practicing it daily for the past two weeks. She had read it for Nicole a few times and the speech was brilliant, it was all about what a good semester they had all had and how she was so thankful to be a Professor there, she even made mention of Nicole in it, and how a young girl from Purgatory never thought she’d get to help shape young minds, but how much she thoroughly enjoyed it. It was brilliant, as was everything Waverly Earp did, but Nicole didn’t want to add a single worry to the younger woman’s mind. So, she had diligently offered to take care of everything else. 

The day of the party, Wynonna had run off with Doc and Dolls, one of the last few revenants had cropped up in the base of the Rockies and they didn’t want to lose his trail, Wynonna had told Nicole that she had to sit this one out, that Waverly’s thing was more important. She had been right of course, but Nicole could tell Wynonna running off to track down a demon had added stress to the younger woman. Nicole had never actually seen her girlfriend be so nervous. “Are you okay, love?” 

Waverly nodded anxiously, applying her make up at the same time. She was so nervous. This had taken some work. Wynonna, Doc, and Dolls, had just gone into the city to put the finishing touches on the venue she had rented. Waverly had invited everyone, everyone from Purgatory, from her work, Nicole’s friends from the station, from her training Academy, from her college soccer team, anyone she could think of. She had always wanted a small wedding, so she figured a huge engagement party would more than make up for that. The hardest part had been ensuring that everyone would keep it a secret, but as her girlfriend did her best to calm her down, she knew the beautiful officer still didn’t have a clue. 

“Okay, so at this party, you’re my wife. Okay? We got married in Dublin, a little over a year ago. Our sisters were our maid’s of honor and they’re the only people we took with us. Okay?” Waverly reminded her. 

Nicole’s heart skipped a beat, even the thought of being Waverly’s wife made her heart pound. She couldn’t wait for the day that was true, that she’d get to say “I do,” forever. She played with the rings in her pocket, she didn’t know why the thought of wearing them made her so nervous, but it did. She couldn’t show it though. Not when her girlfriend was stressed out about her speech, Nicole had to be confident, brazen even, with her delivery of the rings. 

She pulled them out of her pocket, “I ummm… I got us these to wear. So that people wouldn’t suspect we were lying about being married.” 

Waverly’s eyes widened, she hadn’t expected that. Leave it to her Deputy of a girlfriend to complete their look with real rings. They were beautiful. Her mouth fell open. 

“It was dumb, I’m sorry.” Nicole quickly put them back in her pocket. 

“No! It was brilliant. This is brilliant.” Waverly smiled and held out her hand. “You’re amazing. I can’t believe I told that idiot Jeff that I was married. I also can’t believe that it spread through my office so fast. Thank you, love, for doing this. This is perfect. Thank you for always thinking of things I don’t.” 

Nicole smiled, her dimples going full force. “Of course.” She slid her ring into place, feeling the subtle weight added to her hand caused her heart to hammer. “Okay, I’m going to go get dressed. Then I’ll get out of your way and meet you downstairs?” 

Waverly just nodded, she was busy looking at the ring on her left ring finger. Her nerves leaving her body. Nicole Haught was better than her dreams could have ever dreamed. She had absolutely nothing to worry about. Her smile was glued in place as she locked the last few stray hairs into place. 

Nicole was waiting by the front door looking sexy as ever in a tight fitting dark gray suit Waverly had never seen. She took her breath away. Waverly slowly made her way down the stairs, her heart suddenly pounding, did Nicole know somehow? “You look… damn ‘Cole. I’ve never seen that suit.” 

“It’s new.” Nicole beamed, “I wanted to look good enough for you to show off.” 

Waverly blushed, her officer hadn’t known, she had just wanted to look good for her. “It’s good. You did good.” How, after all this time, had she not learned how to sound intelligent in front of this brilliant woman. 

Nicole blushed, “well, good, I need to look pretty damn good to even compare to you.” She winked and lifted Waverly’s left hand to her lips, kissing the back of her fingers, just above the newly placed ring. “Shall we?” 

Waverly nodded, her heart pounding in her chest. This was going to be the longest drive of her life. 

*** 

When they got to the conference center, Waverly had just sent and received messages from Wynonna saying that everything was in place and that at the moment, it was all Waverly’s college colleagues. Everyone else was waiting to casually filter in just before Waverly’s speech. 

“Are you ready, my wife?” Nicole joked, hoping to get her young girlfriend to smile. Panic had seemed to set in over the past ten minutes of the drive or so. 

“Yes.” Waverly smiled nervously, “I go first, you know.” 

“But you’re going to be great, I’ve heard your speech. It’s awesome.” Nicole smiled reassuringly. 

“Wynonna also texted, they got him. So that’s good.” Waverly was breathing shallowly. This was it. 

“That’s great news! One closer, love.” Nicole kissed her girlfriend on the forehead. “Let’s go get you this award. Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” Waverly smiled. “Some prize indeed.” 

They locked hands immediately outside the cab of Nicole’s truck, Harrison, and made their way up the steps of the fancy hotel in which the “awards banquet” was being held. Nicole opened all the doors for her girlfriend as she always did. They stopped at a table right inside the entrance and filled out name tags. Nicole jokingly made her’s say, “Mrs. Professor Earp.” Waverly laughed, feeling her whole body relax, Nicole was really something. She quickly made a new tag that read, “Mrs. Officer Haught.” 

Nicole kept her hand gently on Waverly’s lower back, hoping to provide comfort, as they made their way over to their table, which was near the front, as Waverly was an award recipient. Waverly sat her purse down at her seat and then introduced Nicole to several of her colleagues. Jeff smiled nervously as Nicole shook his hand. Waverly had told him what role he was to play in all this, and he had been more than happy to. Waverly was the best office mate he could ever have asked for, and he could tell how in love with her girlfriend Waverly had been since the day he had met her. Unlike what Nicole had been told, Jeff had not ever hit on Waverly, he actually had a boyfriend, but at the moment, he was a little afraid he was going to get punched in the face if they didn’t get this proposal going soon. 

“Hi, I’m Waverly’s wife.” Nicole said, a forced smile locked onto her face. She sized up Jeff, he was small, she could drop him easily and she wanted him to know it. 

“It’s nice to meet you. I think Waves here has mentioned you once or twice.” He did his best to look longingly at Waverly without flinching. 

Waverly smiled at him, she owed him big for this. She angled herself in between them and put her left hand on Nicole’s chest, protectively, flashing Jeff the ring. His eyes bugged and flitted up to Waverly’s. She subtly shook her head no, so he wouldn’t ask. 

“Well, I best find my seat, it looks like the dean is getting ready to start. Congratulations again, Waves.” He winked and quickly backed out of Nicole’s reach. 

Nicole stopped a growl in her throat. “I might dislike him more than I dislike your ex.” 

Waverly smiled and stood up on her tip toes to kiss the side of her girlfriend’s mouth. “Hey, you make a wonderful wife.” She beamed at her, distracting Nicole’s anger with a breath taking smile. “I think I’m going to keep you.” Waverly giggled, playing the part of endearing girlfriend, not nervous soon to be fiancee. “Come on, let’s get back to our seats.” 

The lights soon faded and the tables filled. Nicole couldn’t see all the faces as they sat, but she was surprised at how full the room had become. No wonder Waverly had been so nervous. There were more people at this than she had expected. The Dean of the History Department stepped up and introduced her as a bright young professor who was changing the face of the university. 

The crowd burst into applause and cheers, it was like an awards show you’d see on TV, Nicole thought, proud of her tiny girlfriend. Waverly stood and kissed Nicole on the cheek before making her way up the steps to the microphone. 

She pulled out a little piece of paper and set it on the podium. “Thank you all for coming. This is such an honor for me. I’m looking forward to meeting you all as the night goes on.” She smiled, her nerves starting to leave her. 

Nicole frowned, what did Waverly mean? Meeting people? That was odd, she thought, but she wouldn’t tell Waverly that later, she wouldn’t make her insecure about this speech. 

Waverly continued a little shakily, “first I want to thank all the people it took to pull tonight off, from the bottom of my heart I cannot thank you enough. Second, I want to thank Nicole Haught. I’m going to tell a little story that not very many people know. Nicole asked me on a date… at the end of our first date.” She could barely see her girlfriend sitting at the table down below, but she knew she looked very confused. “She had told her sister, Hailey, that she had a girlfriend.” Waverly smiled, “sorry babe, the secret is out, she didn’t have one. But she did have a crush on me. So, she asked me to play the part of her girlfriend.” Waverly laughed, “Me, having a crush on her, really quickly agreed. It took seriously zero convincing. I was so sure she knew right then and there exactly how I felt, but apparently it took until the end of the evening, after I had already talked to Hailey on the phone, after poor Chrissy had stayed late at the coffee shop to let us keep talking at a hundred miles an hour, after I had worn Wynonna’s clothes to try to impress her, after all that, she finally admitted she had a crush on me.” Waverly paused, the audience was all laughing at the cuteness of their origin story. “Over the past few years we’ve been through so much together, and with each new obstacle, we’ve grown stronger, closer, and more confident in ourselves and in each other.” 

Nicole was nervously looking around, still unsure as to what was happening, but fairly certain this was not a banquet for work. 

“‘Cole, baby, can you come up here?” 

Nicole dumbly found her feet. She nervously made her way to the stage. 

“I asked Nicole to play the part of my wife this evening, I’ve been working an elaborate story for a few weeks now to make this possible, but I can’t wait until the end of the night to see if she’ll do it for real. I don’t have the patience that she has, but I do love her with every fiber of my being. You have taken my struggles as your own, you have supported me every step of the way, and you have helped shape my life onto a trajectory of hope, of happiness, and of love. It’s my own personal mission to do the same for you.” Waverly reached into a secret pocket she had sewn into her dress, she locked eyes with her beautiful, confused, loving, girlfriend, “Nicole Haught, will you be my wife for real?” 

Nicole’s mouth fell open, her hands flew up to cover it. Waverly held out the most beautiful ring to her. Nicole knew her eyes had watered to the point of spilling over. She nodded, too happy to speak, too full of joy for words. She shakily lowered her left hand. Waverly slipped the fake wedding ring off and slid the diamond band into place. Nicole smashed her face into her now fiancee’s face, lifting her into a kiss, met by thunderous applause from the audience. When their kiss broke, the lights faded up and Nicole was able to see the crowd that had come for this moment, for them. 

She saw her parents, Hailey and Tom, some friends from her training academy, more than half of Purgatory, some of her closest friends from college, and Wynonna, Gus and the boys, all dressed to the nines and all there for them. “How did you do this?” She wiped away tears of joy. 

“A lot of work, and a lot of help from our sisters.” Waverly giggled, wiping her own face dry. 

“You proposed!” Nicole was in shock, she kept looking down at her hand. 

“I did.” Waverly smiled, “I didn’t have the patience to wait for you to do it.” She leaned up on her tip toes to kiss Nicole’s nose. 

“Everyone is here.” 

“That was the goal.” Waverly’s smile hurt it was so etched into place. 

“I love you.” 

“Forever?” 

“Yes.” Nicole’s dimples ripped through her cheeks. 

“Good.” Waverly kissed her fiancee’s nose again, “now that that’s settled, you ready to get a whole bunch of hugs?” 

Nicole giggled and nodded and let her beautiful fiancee lead her back down the steps. They were met at the bottom of the steps by Hailey, Tom, Wynonna, Gus, and Nicole’s parents. It was the happiest group hug of their lives. “Y’all knew?” Nicole exclaimed. 

Everyone laughed and launched into telling Nicole their role in the scheme. Waverly’s arms were wrapped tightly around Nicole’s waist, she was nestled happily into her side, right where she belonged, forever.


End file.
